Madness Spreading
by Lazyboredom
Summary: Things have settled down since Arachnophobia has been defeated, and a few years have passed since then. However, a sudden spike in evil human activity has forced Lord Death to up his recruitment efforts into the EAT class. The increased activity may just be random, but the evil humans appear to be more insane than usual.
1. A Whip?

**Hello all, I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

"Jared! Wake up!" the teacher shouts, "class is over."

"Oh, thanks for waking me up again, Mr. Aillard," Jared replies, rubbing his dark blue eyes.

"I know you do well on your tests, but this has got to stop, you can't just coast on book knowledge here in the EAT class," Mr. Aillard chastises, "and that is why I am forcing you to pair up with a weapon."

Jared stands up and begins walking toward the exit, "that's fine, are they here? Or do I have to meet them somewhere else?"

"He'll be waiting at the park," Mr. Aillard answers, shuffling some papers and finishing up his preparations to leave. His lengthy dull blonde hair bobbing as he does so.

"Aight, have a good day ," Jared calls out as he leaves.

Mr. Aillard sighs,"that boy could tell you any weaknesses at a glance, but getting him to actually fight is like pulling teeth, hopefully he will be able to be one of the first to be able to wield Ophion." Fixing his pitch black suit and blood red tie; he wipes off his dress pants and makes his way out of the class room. While walking down one of the hallways he overhears a pair of screaming female voices.

After walking through the hallways, Jared makes his way outside.

He takes in the fresh desert air; a small gust of air blows his unzipped jacket behind him. The white pigment in his jacket and shorts reflect some of the intense sunlight. Although, the dark blue undershirt does not move because it can't; the undershirt clings so tightly to his scrawny upper body that there isn't a wrinkle on any part of the shirt. The gust quickly dies down, forcing Jared to run his hand through the front of his chocolate brown hair and over to the left to fix it. Jared slowly makes his way to the park; he hopes he can get there early to watch clouds go by.

Shortly, he makes it to the park, and nobody appears to be there to meet up with him, so he finds a nice bench with a wide view of the sky and plops down onto it for the time being.

* * *

"You slut! I thought I could trust you!" a girl screams at another.

"I swear, I didn't know," the other replies, trying to calm her once friend down.

This is Just the handiwork of Ophion, who as always, was sitting in the background taking in the full impact of his actions with a slight smirk on his face. The argument didn't last long, much to his dismay, as Mr. Aillard broke it up before it reached a boiling point. He made one of them leave to so that he could talk to the other.

After briefly speaking with her, he looks over to Ophion before calling him over. He drops his smirk, and puts on his "mask," holding onto his black fedora to avoid it falling off of his head, he works his way over to Mr. Aillard.

"What is wrong Mr. Aillard? Any way I can help- oh my, Alyssa, why are you crying?" Ophion sincerely asks, at this point in his craft, when he lies and when he is sincere is indistinguishable.

"Oh, Ophion it's horrible, I found out my best friend and my weapons partner were going out behind my back," she explains between sobs.

She moves in to hug him, and he begrudgingly responds back.

"That's horrible, don't worry, it will be all right," he consolidates while embracing her.

Alyssa cries it out into Ophion's bright yellow suit, much to his dismay.

Meanwhile, Mr. Aillard reaches in to whisper in to his ear, "Your new partner is waiting for you at the park after you finish here."

He nods in response.

After he finished there, he hurried out before he ended up spending more time than he wanted.

"_I think that was worth it, myself."_

He hurries over to the park to meet his partner, his last two both refused to use him after just two transformations, citing his unnerving soul wavelength as the reason. Another gust of wind blows, forcing him to hold onto his fedora, which is the exact color of Ophion's jacket. His forest green dress pants, vest, and undershirt remain unmoved by the wind.

"_Hopefully this one is stronger willed than the last."_

After a bit of walking he finally meets his partner, who may have been watching clouds earlier, but had now begun to lie down on the park bench and begin to take a nap. Just before he lays his head down to rest, he notices Ophion heading his way and stands up to greet him in response. Jared's cyan tennis shoes match the toe of Ophion's dress shoes, but while Jared's are completely Cyan with orange tennis shoes, Ophion's dress shoes are brown in the remaining areas.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Ophion Nyoka, and I'll be your new weapon partner," Ophion begins, with his near-permanent smile on his face, he bows.

"You can cut the crap Ophion, I know who you really are on the inside," Jared answers.

"Whatever do you mean?" Ophion questions, not even coming close to breaking his façade.

"Don't think I haven't seen you laughing your ass off as people fight and argue, shortly after they have had contact with you… I'm actually quite surprised people haven't figured it out yet," Jared explains.

"Fine, you got me, are you going to blab to everyone?" Ophion wonders.

"As much as I hate seeing you screw up so many lives, I already know you'll find a way to make me the bad guy, so I'll stay out of it."

Ophion cracks a large smile, "good, now grab onto my arm."

Jared complies, and Ophion quickly transforms into his weapon form.

A black chain wraps around Jared's right arm, before extending out from the beginning and the end of the wrap. The beginning quickly stops after reaching out a foot more, while the back circles around Jared's body 3 times loosely. A neon green streak runs from the head, across the body, and ending at the tail to complete the transformation.

"A whip? Its going to be interesting to learn how to fight with you, I must say," Jared expresses with a bit of nervousness.

"Idiot, look at my design again, pay close attention to my two ends," Ophion exasperatedly retorts.

Jared follows the extension from the beginning of the wrap on his arm to see a clamp in the shape of a snake's head, complete with fangs. Following the other end, he sees that the chains end in a pointed tip.

"So, you're some sort of displacement and stabbing utensil?" Jared questions.

"Yes, my clamps do not let go," Ophion remarks ominously.

Quickly, Ophion asks, "Do you feel a chill?"

"No, why?" Jared responds.

"Whelp, I guess I'm stuck with you then," Ophion affirms, punctuating with a sigh.


	2. Class Transfer

**Hello all, I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

The next morning, class provided an interesting surprise, one that would impact them more than they thought possible.

"Good morning class, as you all know by looking at the mission board," Mr. Aillard starts, pacing on the raised area behind his podium, "evil human activity has been on the rise, and so Lord Death has been increasing his efforts to recruit students into our EAT program."

He stops in front of the blackboard and writes an A and a B.

"So much so, in fact, that we had to divide the EAT program into two different classes," he states, pointing to both letters.

"I'm not pointing fingers, but _someone_ messed up with the B class and they had too many students," he draws an arrow from class B to A, "so, we are receiving 7 new students into our class."

A boy in the back of the class raises his hand.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Did you really need to draw a visual to supplement that?" the boy asks sheepishly.

Mr. Aillard's hand briefly lunges towards his forehead, but he resists the urge and instead flings the chalk at the boy's head; the boy does not even try to move and takes the chalk to the head.

"Does that answer your question?" Mr. Aillard asks exasperatedly.

"Not really," the boy responds, rubbing his forehead.

Mr. Aillard leans in on his podium, interlocks his fingers, and places his head on the back of his hands. He lets out a sigh before jolting his head up and smiling.

"Anyways…" Mr. Aillard begins while running his hand through his dull blonde hair, "Sid, you can let your students in."

"Geez, took you long enough to get the introductions in order," Sid answers as he flings open the door and herds in the new students.

"_Hopefully these B students are more competent then these ones…"_ Mr. Aillard thinks to himself.

"Well students, it's been great being your teacher, but I have faith that Abastor here will teach you as well as I could," Sid woefully declares as he gives a short wave and exits the room.

"Come here to the fron-" Mr. Aillard sighs after looking over at Jared, who has his head down on his desk.

"As I was saying, come to the front students so you can introduce yourselves, before you start; I need to take care of something," Mr. Aillard instructs, while moving over to Jared's seat.

With a loud _Wham_ Mr. Aillard slams his hand right in front of Jared's head, causing his head to jolt up.

A girl among the new students with long black hair and a ponytail gives a muffled giggle, while another begins to bite her lip.

"You couldn't have _waited_ until _after_ I started teaching to begin your nap session?" Mr. Aillard chastises angrily.

Jared scratches the back of his head, "Sorry Mr. Aillard, had a late night again; I don't know why they don't move these classes to the afternoon."

"What do you even _do _so late at night?" Mr. Aillard questions accusingly.

"Some nights I just find it hard to sleep is all… so I end up playing with my cat," Jared responds defensively.

Mr. Aillard contemplates Jared's answer before he lets out another sigh, "fine, but please do try to stay awake for the introductions."

"Alright sir, but I can't make any promises," Jared mentions jokingly as Mr. Aillard walks back to his podium, giving him a slight smirk.

"Now, back to the introductions," Mr. Aillard starts, "just give your name and something about yourself."

The second part of his explanation causes a wave of nervousness among the new students with a couple exceptions. The classroom is filled with a moment of silence; Mr. Aillard raises an eyebrow in confusion.

Finally one of the boys starts, "My name is Ledo Weiss and I WILL be the number one meister in this class."

Ophion begins making mental notes as each new student introduces themselves.

"_Black spikey hair, probably the tallest in the class, athletic build, blue polo-black undershirt, black jeans, black shoes with white stripes… hmm that arrogant intro probably means he has an ego, would be fun to shatter that… Otherwise, Jared strongly dislikes arrogant people, could easily set them up to hate each other." _

Another short silence befalls the room as the remaining students silently hold out to go last, except for one, who seems to be staring extremely intently at the opposite wall.

"Well, I guess I'll go next… my name is Mayu Yuki and these are my weapon partners' and brothers' Katashi and Makoto," Mayu declares.

"_Pretty short, slightly disproportionate arms and legs, black hair braided at the bangs to wrap underneath the head AND a ponytail, interesting, sharp green eyes that remind me of my own in a way, Orange T-shirt with black slacks and black shoes, those "brothers" appear to be half or adopted. I will have to get closer before I can determine any specific sore spots." _

Katashi bows, while Makoto gives a wide smile and a wave.

"_Katashi… short and stocky, with a good amount of muscle on him, bright blue eyes, black hair contrasting starkly with that pale skin, and ending with a plain black t-shirt and jeans. Certainly a plain fellow; I wonder if they are older or younger than Yuka… Older brothers tend to be quite protective. Bowing is usually is a sign of politeness and in turn politeness usually means reclusion."_

"_Makoto's gesture provides the assumption that these two brothers are opposites personality-wise, further increasing my confidence that Katashi is a quiet individual, anything else I can pick up on, otherwise? Same build as Katashi, AND with the same contrast between skin tone and hair, Makoto has blonde hair, bout' the same hue as sand, with a slight tan. White T-shirt and dark jeans? Yup, I feel confident in approaching Makoto as a sociable individual and Katashi as a quiet counterpart."_

Ophion's smile widens as he tries to contain his laughter after he notices a blonde shivering.

"_Oh my, she must be positively terrified about being put on stage like this."_

…

"Did my class ask you guys to pad for time? Far too long between introductions…" Mr. Aillard states, cutting the silence in the room.

"Fine, I'll go, my name is Anstice Wisniowski, Vin-sh-nehs-ki… got it?" Anstice coldly declares.

"Says here your name is Anastasiya," Mr. Aillard remarks.

Anstice bites her lip, _"Really? He's going to make me waste time explaining why I just said Anstice instead?"_

"Yes, my real name is Anastasiya, but I prefer to be called Anstice, and I figured we could just save some time by me just saying what I preferred to be called."

"Ah, oh well, at least it saved some future confusion," Mr. Aillard mentions, _"Some of these morons would think you and Anastasiya were separate people."_

"_Is she wearing lipstick? Maybe, I've no idea why I decided to sit here in the back row, hard to discern minute details from back here. Hmm, dark red hair pulled into a ponytail-braid combo, kind of a muddy tint to it, blunt bangs over the forehead… Can't even tell her eye color from up here, possibly brown? Shady eyes, shady eyes, indeed. Pale skin… What's with these B students and contrasting skin tone and hair? Dark green dress, high neckline, long sleeves… goes to her thighs and black vest over that. Capri pants, and brown shin-high boots. This amount of covering usually means a reserved attitude; long-sleeves may be a way to cover cuts…"_

…

Mr. Aillard lets out an angry sigh, "Um, Amy, you're next."

"_Why couldn't he have picked Alice instead," _Amy thinks to herself.

"M-my name is Amy Nightingale and I-"

"_Easy."_

"Could you speak up please? I can't hear you from up here," Ophion requests as politely as he can.

"_Bullshit, I know he can hear her fine, just trying to make the spotlight shine on her longer," _Jared thinks to himself, _"poor girl, I should probably apologize for his behavior after class."_

Anstice once again bites down on her lower lip, _"it's very clear she's already nervous, why make a big deal about volume and make her start over?"_

The sound of Amy gulping assuredly reaches the back row.

"I'm sorry, I'll try to speak up, my name is Amy Nightingale and I like to read."

"_Besides the obvious social fear, let's see if I can discern anything else. Short-seems to be the same height as Anstice, being five foot five about. A bit scrawnier than her though in the body shape and breasts. Hmph, 3 ladies in and I just now notice bust size? Must be that I'm too polite… HA! Anyways, shoulder length wavy blonde hair, vivid green eyes… geez is she 11? That face gives a very youthful appearance to say the least. Orange skirt and white hoodie- might be an undershirt, probably black or some other dark color, only one weird person around here wears mostly light colors and that's Jared. Death! I need to get some time to speak with them, they ain't giving me much to go on appearance-wise."_

"Just going to take the initiative here, Alice you're up," Mr. Aillard blurts out just as Amy ends.

Alice does not respond.

Mr. Aillard lets out a hollow chuckle, _"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"_

"ALICE!" Mr. Aillard shouts out.

"Sir, sometimes she zones out, and sometimes you just got to tap her on the shoulder to get her attention," Ledo explains.

"Oh, I assume Sid had similar problems?" Mr. Aillard disdainfully asks as he moves in to get Alice's attention.

"I don't know, I don't really pay attention to her that much, just that was Sid's solution," Ledo further clarifies.

Mr. Aillard taps Alice on the shoulder, causing her to jump slightly, "Alice, it's your turn to introduce yourself."

"Oh, sorry, if I ever zone out like that, just tap me on the shoulder," Alice clarifies again with a slight smile.

"Yeah, somebody told me already," Mr. Aillard grumbles while heading back to behind his podium.

"How long was I standing here?" Alice requests.

Mr. Aillard hastily replies, "a few seconds, now introduce yourself."

"Ah, my name is Alice Taylor and it is quite lovely to meet you all!" Alice cheerfully expounds.

"_Gag me now; I can tell she is one of those… happy people. Nothing pisses me off more than people who are happy for no reason… and what's with the daisy in her hair? Clothing choices appear to provide no hints, being a black overall style skirt coming to just past her knees, white undershirt with floral patterned lace sleeves… knee high black socks and black creeper shoes. Fairly thin and the shortest of the bunch by a few inches. Black hair at shoulder length with a bit of curl in it… Seriously though? Why the daisy!"_

"Congratulations on spending fifteen minutes on introductions, please use the money my class gave you responsibly," Mr. Aillard suggests, "and please move to the open seats in the class so that I may FINALLY begin class."

The students move to the open seats:

Ledo takes the seat in the second row on the right side, _"Hmm, not too far in the back to not hear if I want to listen and not right in front in case I want to sleep."_

Anstice takes the front and center seat, _"None of these others are brave enough to take this seat, so I will, this way I can take full advantage of this class." _

Amy takes the seat in the back of the left section, _"I can be unassuming up here and I can avoid judgmental eyes from behind me." _

Yuka takes the seat in the third row of the center section, "_I'm sure this class will be a lot of fun!" _

Alice moves to sit in to the seat two away from Yuka, but just as she's about to sit down… Katashi snatches up the seat, although not before bowing and mouthing out an apology. _"I hope Alice won't be too mad, but I need to sit by Yuka."_

She gives a weak smile, then moves to the seat directly beneath Yuka and… Makoto grabs the seat. _"I need to be close so I can protect Yuka, sorry Alice."_

Alice moves out of the seating area and begins scanning the rows for another place to sit.

"There's one right next to Jared, the guy in the white jacket over there," Mr. Aillard indicates while pointing to the seat on the left in the second row, "don't worry, he doesn't snore when he naps so he won't be a distraction."

She nods and begins moving toward the seat next to Jared.

"_She seems nice, now I just got to try to take the initiative and say hello or nice to meet you… maybe that will be too much, I'll wave and smile… yeah, that's what I'll do," _Jared nervously debates in his head.

Alice goes to sit down and Jared freezes up.

"_No, that's a terrible idea, she'll just think I'm creepy or something."_

Alice takes her seat with nary a gesture from Jared.

"_I'm such a coward…" _

Mr. Aillard begins his lecture about witches' souls and Jared soon finds his eyelids getting heavy again.

"_Oh well, a little refresher on witches' soul never hurt anybody," _Yuka cheerfully mentions to herself while pulling out a notebook and pencil.

Alice begins twirling her hair and staring at the blackboard before completely zoning out.

Anstice leans in and begins to listen intently, _"I'm going to figure out a way to use this knowledge to get stronger." _

Katashi lets out a slight sigh before following Yuka's example and begins to take notes.

Meanwhile, his brother, Makoto, begins staring intently at the clock, _"such a waste of a bright, sunny day! I hate being cooped up inside."_

Amy leans in and begins scanning the room, _"I wonder if the students in here are as interesting as class B's students." _

"_Today I'm going to pay attention; just gotta concentrate, and then I can continue getting better at it," _Ledo focuses his mind on Mr. Aillard words for a few minutes before his pencil begins to get attention, _"Argh! It's so hard concentrating on one thing!"_

"_Well, I've got my work cut out for me, getting to know seven new students is such a pain in the ass, oh well, tis' always worth it in the end," _Ophion muses to himself, resting his head on his hand.

After what seems like an eternity to some in the class, the clock finally strikes three, indicating the end of class.

"Now before all of you run out; I need to speak with Alice, Ledo, Anstice, and Amy after class, and for Jared and Ophion to wait outside until I give notice," Mr. Aillard orders.

"_I bet it has to do with the fact we don't have partners, although, I do wonder why he wants those two," _Anstice speculates.

Jared gets up from his seat and notices that Alice hasn't even made a twitch in response to Mr. Aillard. He gulps, and taps her on the shoulder. She looks up at him, freezing him once more.

"Did you need something, Jared?" Alice asks.

"Oh, um… Class is over and Mr. Aillard wanted to see you," Jared nervously answers.

"Thank you."

In response to Jared's gesture to let her stand up, she does so and makes her way to where the others had congregated, Jared in tow. He continues walking past, however, and meets Ophion at the door, who politely opens the door and lets him through.

"Amy, Anstice, stand in front of me please and transform into your weapon forms," Mr. Aillard commands.

They comply and transform, Mr. Aillard reaches out and grabs each, much to his surprise one of his arms quickly jerks down. For Amy had transformed into a six foot long claymore; her blade glistens a bright silver. However, that was not the main draw of her form, a golden, Chinese-style dragon is emblazoned across the blade, reaching for the tip with the ferocity of a thousand angry lions.

Ledo's eyes nearly bulge out of his head.

"_She's longer than I am, I doubt I can wield her; she seems like a lovely girl though," _Alice thinks to herself.

In Mr. Aillard's other hand he is holding Anstice upright, who takes on the shape of a Runka spear. The tip erupts into three separate points, one jutting out from the end of the tip, while the other two jut out in a half crescent, slightly below the end. Anstice's shaft and blades have small patches of silver, however; the metal is hidden beneath the shiny gloss of platinum-black, whose sheen provides the exquisite view that only a starry night in the desert can provide.

Ledo is too enthralled with the prospect of wielding a large sword to really pay attention to Anstice's details.

"_She's certainly shiny," _Alice comments to herself.

"Of course, just because you like a weapon's appearance does NOT mean your souls are compatible, so keep that in mind," Mr. Aillard warns.

* * *

"What were you doing up there?" Jared accusingly demands.

"Oh, nothing much, can't really do much besides take mental notes," Ophion casually replies.

"Of what nature?" Jared interrogates.

"Either you're stupid or you don't know me as well as you think you do," Ophion answers.

"They must have been about documenting emotional weaknesses, I presume," Jared responds.

"Right-O, buck-o, granted much of it was observations and assumptions, but oh well, you can only do so much from appearances, ya know?"

"Well, at least you were _polite_ and opened the door for me like a _gentleman_," Jared sarcastically mentions.

"Opening the door and letting you through first? That was child's play, you'll know when I am trying really hard to be polite," Ophion rebuts.

"Whatever… I wonder why Mr. Aillard wants to see us," Jared asks.

"How should I know? What I do know is that these new students make me giddy with excitement," Ophion states, "what do you think about em', chokey?"

"Wh-what?" Jared stammers out.

"You know what; I knew you were bad at holding conversations, but what I didn't know was that women completely make you freeze up," Ophion utters, while a huge grin spreads across his face.

Jared's face changes to a dull red, "It's not really women themselves, but talking to them."

"Aww, poor you," Ophion affirms condescendingly.

"Thanks…" Jared replies angrily while rolling his eyes.

* * *

**First of all, a couple things:**

**1. In hindsight, I shouldn't have described Ophion's true personality and just hinted at ****it in the example, that way when he finally reveals it its more of a surprise. Oh well. **  
**2. Also, just realized how hard its going to balance him as a protagonist, have an idea ****however. **

**No worries, I will persevere despite these set-backs, and I appreciate all the interest! ****Also, after receiving most, I ended up staring at the responses and jotting down notes for the past few days. I also patched up the first chapter a bit so people who are reading this later on can know how Ophion, Mr. Aillard, and Jared look. **

**I apologize that most of this was a stream of thought from Ophion; I assure you long internal monologues will not be used in the near future, as I'm sure sure as sick of them already as I am. **

**The hardest part about writing this chapter was making sure to use appropriate speaking verbs, and making sure Anstice received a fantastical description along with Amy. **

**I have 5 arcs planned. If you feel like you have enough information on all of the OC's from this chapter; wait one more chapter. I need to introduce the new resident deathscythe. I'll send you a relations form later (which may or may not have some notes and some things I forgot in the normal form)  
**

**Remember, the student OC's may be full but I still need more witches! So, send them in if you want, the form, as always, will be on my profile. **

**Credits:**

**Ledo Weiss - RicBP  
**

**Amy Nightingale - YamadaAC**

**Alice Taylor - WhatALovelyTeaParty **

**Mayu, Katashi, Makoto Yuki - author-144 **

**Anastasiya 'Anstice' Wisniowski - Prime Anya**

**Whelp, going to post this and go to bed, probably would have been posted earlier today had I quit finding music to use in the background for certain points in the story, but I digress... I know it isn't an exciting chapter, but I hope you enjoy.**


	3. Connections

**Hello all, I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

**Just in case somebody out there is confused, I use Italics with dialogue to signify that the character is thinking, or speaking with a weapon partner. If it becomes confusing, lemme know, I'll figure out a different style for partners to speak.  
**

* * *

"For the most part, most students are compatible with just one other," Mr. Aillard explains, "so, instead of delving into an argument over who gets who; we'll just see who is compatible with who."

Mr. Aillard hands Anstice over to Ledo, much to his dismay, and with a grunt, hefts Amy over to Alice.

"_Ready to try to link souls Anstice?"_ Ledo asks.

"_Yeah, fine." _

Meanwhile, _"I'm so sorry that I'm so heavy in weapon form, maybe if our souls link I'll get lighter," _Amy apologetically suggests.

"_I-It's fine," _Alice responds with a groan as she tries to lift Amy a bit more off the ground.

Ledo and Alice begin concentrating, trying to achieve a link with Amy and Anstice. For a brief moment they feel a connection, but then…

Several small cuts begin to appear on Ledo's hand, making him drop Anstice in shock, while Amy's weight increases tenfold, much to Alice's surprise. Amy smashes into the checkered floor, shattering all of the tiles she lands on.

Both weapons quickly revert to human form.

Amy bows as immediately as she could and frantically blurts out, "I'm so sorry!"

Anstice bites her lip, _"That idiot dropped me!" _

"No, it's my fault; I shouldn't have…" Alice pauses for a brief moment, trying to think of a legitimate reason so that she can calm down the hysterical Amy, "tried to lift you off the ground until we knew what your soul rejection would be like."

"No, no, it's all my fault," Amy sorrowfully interjects.

"AMY! Calm down, it's actually my fault for trying to determine partners like this; the tiles can be fixed and specifically no one got hurt, that's what's important right?" Mr. Aillard soothingly asks.

"_Tell that to my hand," _Ledo complains.

"I-I guess so, but what about the tile; they'll be expensive to replace, won't they?" Amy wonders worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, now let's try again, but switch this time," Mr. Aillard requests.

"_Idiot, that's what got us here in the first place," _Anstice grumbles to herself, _"whatever, let's just get this over with." _

Amy finally calms down and switches places with Anstice before retransforming.

With a loud groan, Ledo hoists Amy onto his shoulder.

"_Whelp, they may be more diligent than my current students, but can't say all of them are smarter," _Mr. Aillard criticizes, "uhh-."

"Don't you think that may be a tad bit of a bad idea Ledo?" Alice interrupts, asking what Mr. Aillard was going to anyways.

"Not at all! I can feel it," Ledo replies confidently.

"_I wonder if he's talking about me as a person or the fact I'm a Claymore…" _Amy wonders to herself.

"Alice, Anstice, how do you guys feel?" Mr. Aillard questions.

"Good, but we haven't tried to connect yet," Alice answers.

Alice spaces out for a moment due to the silence in the room.

"_ALICE! We need to try to connect now."_

"_Oh, sorry." _

Both pairs resume concentrating to try to link their souls. Soon, Ledo and Amy begin to feel a connection, as well as Anstice and Alice.

The door to the room suddenly bursts open, and a woman wearing a bright green, floral, kimono rushes in; this causes both pairs' soul connections to fizzle out as they lose concentration.

"Abastor! I need to speak with you !" she cheerfully shouts; her voice catching notes as she speaks.

"Damnit, Kotone! My new students were trying to link their souls!" Mr. Aillard shouts out angrily.

"Aww, don't be such a gloomy Gus, they'll get it, I'm sure of it," Kotone replies enthusiastically; she begins moving in to hug Mr. Aillard, "I think someone needs a hug!"

"No, I'm fi-" he starts, but cuts himself off, remembering all of the other times it didn't help him.

He begrudgingly accepts Kotone's hug, before letting go of him she leans back and looks into his eyes, "now let's see a smile!"

He forces a fake smile.

"No! No! That won't do, it has to be a real smile," she angrily specifies, "you do remember how to do that, don't you?"

"Yes, dear," he answers, giving the cheesiest smile he possibly can.

"There we go ! I guess I'll wait outside until you're finished," Katone mentions as she unlatches from Mr. Aillard's neck and leaves as abruptly as she came.

"You're married?_" _all four of the students cry out in unison.

"Yup," Mr. Aillard replies coldly.

"_Wow, can't believe I missed the ring on his finger," _Amy dejectedly thinks.

"_Whatever," _Anstice states to herself.

"_Didn't think that cynical coot would even come close to a woman," _Ledo affirms.

"You make a lovely pair," Alice merrily compliments, knowing firsthand about opposites attracting.

"Thanks… now let's try this again one more time," Mr. Aillard exasperatedly commands.

"_I've gotta try to concentrate on one thing for a third time? Oh Death, I better get the rest of the day off for this," _Ledo remarks to himself.

They begin to concentrate for the third the time, hoping to finally find out if they are compatible.

Ledo's focus becomes so intense that he loses his sense of smell and hearing momentarily, this way he can be sure to focus all of his energy onto Amy.

…

A burst of energy begins to flow through both individuals in each pair… They feel tethered to something now.

Ledo lets off his focus, regaining his senses, and silently waits to see if Alice lets off her focus as well. She lets out a quiet sigh before opening her eyes.

"So?" Mr. Aillard asks earnestly.

Anstice and Amy transform back into their human forms before anyone answers.

"Amy and I connected, was pretty easy," Ledo boasts loudly.

"_I don't think you could call that easy," _Amy ponders.

Anstice snaps down onto her lip, _"wasn't easy when you tried to link with me."_

"Anstice and I did the same; I'm sure we'll make a lovely pair," Alice states with a smile.

"Uh-huh," Anstice reaffirms, forcing a smile.

"Alright, well Ledo, go to the mission board and try collecting a soul with Amy," Mr. Aillard commands, "on your way out tell Jared and Ophion they can come in now, and also tell Kotone to STAY."

The pair works their way out of the room.

"_Really? I'm getting forced into a mission just after I meet Amy?" _Ledo complains.

"_Oh well, if it makes me stronger so I can kick some more ass, then I guess I'll do it," _Ledo deliberates, with a bit of excitement toward the end.

"_That means we're going to be alone, and he's going to try to talk to me… I know plenty about him from watching him, but he doesn't know anything about me," _Amy contemplates worriedly.

And they open the door and exit.

"What about us, Mr. Aillard?" Alice asks.

"Wait here until Jared and Ophion come in."

"Ok."

* * *

Quietly humming to herself, Kotone flits around the hallway, prancing from one direction to another; her bright orange hair bobbing at its full length down her back as she does so. Kotone's motions completely entrance Jared, but Ophion remains unentertained.

"Yo, Jared, snap out of it," Ophion utters, snapping his fingers in front of Jared's face.

"Wha-huh?"

"Quit ogling Katone for a minute," Ophion demands with a smirk.

"I wasn't ogling; her kimono prevents anyone from trying that," Jared replies starkly.

"Exactly," Ophion states.

"Wh-OH! No, that's not what I meant; I meant that I-" Jared stammers out.

"Save it pervert!" Ophion shouts out, much louder than Jared would have wanted.

"Knock it off Ophion!" Jared shouts in response.

Kotone is none the wiser to the yelling going on just ten feet away.

Ophion leans in to Jared, stopping about an inch from his face.

"Oh? What are you going to do about it?" Ophion ominously questions, a large frown suddenly replaces his smile.

Just then, the door to the classroom opens, with Ledo exiting with Amy in tow.

"Are we interrupting something?" Ledo asks.

"No, not at all, please go on through," Ophion politely allows, breaking away from Jared's face and letting them both pass.

"Idiot," Ophion subtly speaks.

Ledo turns around, "What was that?"

"Oh my Jared, I didn't think you'd say that out loud," Ophion nervously shifts the blame.

"Wh-what? I didn't say anything, it was Ophion," Jared quickly rebuts.

Ledo points his finger at Jared, "I'm watching you," before turning around and getting Kotone's attention.

Ophion's mouth contorts into a malicious smile, _"that was easier than I thought it'd be."_

"_Damnit Ophion; I don't like being on anybody's bad side, and you just put me on his," _Jared grumbles to himself.

"Mr. Aillard said to stay out here for a bit longer," Ledo informs Kotone without any emotion.

"Aww, I guess I can practice my Bon Adori dance some more," Kotone dejectedly says aloud; her ocean blue eyes convey the slight disappointment.

"And you guys, you can go in now," Ledo adds on, a bit of contempt at the start.

Ledo and Amy proceed to the first floor to take a mission.

Jared and Ophion enter the classroom to an obviously impatient Mr. Aillard.

"Alright, the reason why I wanted you two pairs to stay is because you're the least experienced, and I wanted to assign you to a sparring match against each other."

"Jared and Alice? Or us too?" Ophion requests.

"It will be full fight, in a controlled environment, with D-D-D-Do-," Mr. Aillard gulps, "Doctor Stein mediating in case you get hurt."

"_Great…" _Ophion and Anstice gripe in unison.

"_My first fight with Ophion and it's against her? She seems so nice; I don't want to hurt her," _Jared gulps.

"_Oh my, I don't want injure him, he seems so nice, but if I have too fight…" _Alice ponders, _"it might be a way to get to know all three of them better." _

"Now shoo and go to the infirmary and find D-d-d-doctor Stein, apparently Kotone has something important to tell me."

The students quickly exit; Kotone gets the hint as the student walks by and rushes in as quickly as the students leave.

"Now what was so important that you had to disrupt my students' concentration?" Mr. Aillard requests.

"I wanted to ask where you wanted to go for dinner tonight Alastor ," Kotone excitedly replies.

Mr. Aillard drops his head in frustration and with a loud sigh, "Deathsteraunt sounds fine."

* * *

**Whelp, I ended up writing more than I was expecting for this part... the sparring match, Yuka and her brothers' mission, and Ledo and Amy's were all supposed to be on this chapter. To save you all from scrolling for 3 minutes I'll write it all in the next one instead. Also, this pushes back the follow up PM for one more chapter... I promise THEN i'll send it.  
**

**New ending disclaimer: If you spot a problem with consistency with your character, the writing, or the story do not be afraid to tell me.**

**Apparently this website doesn't do musical notes. (The spaces at the end of Kotone's speaking like in the second to last line) **


	4. The Black Widow

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

Silence resounds through the halls as the two pairs make their way to the infirmary to find Dr. Stein. Seeing a chance to begin worming his way into Anstice and Alice's lives, Ophion breaks the silence.

"So… anyone else hear the rumors about Dr. Stein?" Ophion questions.

"Rumors? What kind of rumors?" Alice replies curiously.

"He's apparently the one who mentored most of the Spartoi students," Ophion answers.

"Huh? The Spartoi?" Jared wonders.

"The elite students, you've probably seen their uniforms; the white and blue ones," Alice answers in Ophion's stead.

"Oh yeah, didn't Soul Eater and Maka Albarn start that or something?" Jared asks, only half sure of his answer.

"Yup, was about three years ago; I don't like their uniforms, myself," Ophion states.

"Why not?" Alice inquiries, unsure why he would have distaste for the clothing.

"Not formal enough… Now, if they all wore something like this; I bet they would look really cool," Ophion replies, gesturing towards his outfit.

Jared and Alice let out a chuckle, but Anstice remains silent.

Ophion notices this.

"So Anstice, what do you think about the Spartoi's uniforms?" Ophion interrogates, forcing her into the conversation.

She bites her lip in exasperation but answers, "they seem to be really strong and independent," placing emphasis on independent.

"That they do… is Soul the only death scythe on the Spartoi?" Jared wonders, looking over at Ophion.

"Why yes I am," a cool voice replies from behind.

All four stop in their tracks and turn to meet the owner of the voice.

A white haired man in a white dress shirt and blue pants is the owner, his incredibly poor posture becomes increasingly apparent the more they stare at him.

"Sup Soul, how's it going man?" Ophion casually responds.

"Nothing much dude, Stein sent me to go find you guys; Mr. Aillard saw you guys going the wrong way, but was being dragged along by Kotone, so he had to frantically call out to Stein as he was pulled passed the infirmary."

All four suddenly realize they've been walking to the opposite side of the school from the infirmary this whole time.

Ophion shrugs, bends his elbows upward, and points his palms toward the ceiling.

They turn around and begin heading toward the sparring room.

"Why didn't Stein come to get us instead?" Alice asks.

"Said he lost track of time giving me a check-up, so he made me come as he prepared the sparring room," Soul retorts, scratching the back of his head.

"You gunna watch?" Ophion inquires.

"Yeah; I think I will; the Spartoi has been really busy lately, so I'll take whatever breaks I can get," Soul responds.

"As lazy as ever, I see," Ophion mentions, chuckling along with Soul.

Being that the conversation had been conquered by Ophion and Soul; the remaining three stay silent, as the catalyst to their conversations seems to be occupied.

After making their way through most of the school, the chummy conversation between Ophion and Soul dies down.

"Hey Soul, why did Mr. Aillard take over teaching from Stein?" Jared questions.

"From what Stein told me; he needed more free time to study the surge of kishin eggs," Soul explains, "seems like there may be a surge of new death scythes too… with all of these souls to collect."

"Don't you need a witch's soul to fully transform though?" Anstice inquires, breaking her silence.

"I suppose you're right… there have been far fewer witches as of late…" Soul mentions, "although, Stein seems to think that the kishin eggs are just the start of something worse."

Just as the words leave Soul's mouth; an ominous silence falls over them.

* * *

Deep within the Himalayas, an exploration team comes upon a cave system.

For what seems like days, they explore deeper and deeper within the caves, hoping to discover something tucked away from prying eyes. Just as their legs are about to give way, they come upon a crystalline formation, with all sorts of multi-colored crystals hanging from the ceiling and jutting up from the ground.

They travel a bit deeper, when they come upon what appears to be a chamber; the once multi-colored crystals have become a uniform transparent. Among the sudden shift, a perfectly shaped bipyramid crystal sits in the center of the room.

At first, the explorers believe that among all of the crystals, this _ONE _crystal appears to be the only one with any imperfections, noting the black and blue color change.

Upon closer inspection, they realize that it isn't any kind of imperfection, but a young man sitting cross-legged inside of the crystal. The man appears to be in perfect condition, perfectly preserved for eons. The men wonder how long the young man got there, and how long he has been frozen in his current state.

"_Come brothers! It is time to reawaken; the witches have taken a heavy blow… It is time to get our revenge on them!" _

With that, the young man's eyes open, causing all of the explorers to jump back in shock. The crystal he is within shatters into thousands of tiny pieces, and without a word; he creates a shard and rides out of the cave, much to the horror of the explorers.

* * *

"Mayu! We told you this mission is too dangerous!" Makoto and Katashi chastise.

"And I told you guys we can handle it!" Mayu angrily shouts back.

The trio travels through their destination, being a forest in Kentucky with far too dense a canopy.

"We'll be fine; I'm sure of it, it's not like we aren't used to fighting close quarters in the dark anyways," Mayu cheerfully reminds the two.

"Yeah, I guess," Katashi glumly concedes, knowing his sister to be too headstrong to continue arguing.

"Beats being cooped up in the school, that's for sure," Makoto adds.

A shift in the wind causes Mayu to tense up, putting out her hands to stop Makoto and Katashi from walking past her. Without a word, she grabs onto their arms and they transform into a daisho.

Makoto takes the form of the lead katana in Mayu's right hand, the hilt being a white with a dull yellow wrapping, while Katashi becomes the companion Wakizashi in her left hand; his hilt being dark blue with black wrapping.

A loud hiss comes from the trees, but the owner remains out of sight.

Another shift in the wind.

A pale creature hops between trees, its long claws digging into the bark to hang on. The evil human jumps to a tree a short distance away from Mayu, who puts out Katashi in front of her to defend. The creature hangs horizontally, its face remains out of sight.

"Black widow! It is time for you to pay for your crimes," Mayu calls out to the creature, which has remained still.

With a loud crack, Black Widow's neck careens toward Mayu's direction, before it drops off the tree. It returns to a bipedal stance and slowly walks toward Mayu.

"_At some point in time, I bet she was a beautiful woman," _Mayu thinks to herself, looking at the nude female form slowly approaching.

At a distance, aside from longer nails, this Evil Human appears to be completely normal. This thought is completely shattered as her face comes into view.

The mouth has become distorted becoming oval-shaped, saliva drips from the lengthened teeth. The nose has disappeared, and the ears have become more cat-like along with its paralyzing yellow eyes. Its tongue is forked and its greenish hair hangs in dirty strands on its neck and face.

It gets far too close for comfort for Katashi and Makoto, who begin to get a bit nervous.

"Mayu, snap out of it! She's going to kill you if you don't move," Katashi warns, before Makoto is able too.

With that, the creature returns back to a quadrupedal stance before reeling back on its heels and springing forth.

Mayu finally snaps out of it and tries to stop the pounce with Katashi.

The creature comes to an abrupt halt just in front of Mayu upon making contact with Katashi; the energy is not lost however, forcing Mayu to brace herself with her other leg.

Black Widow returns to bipedal as it ferociously tries to swipe away Katashi with its other hand. Leaning in, it tries to get a bite in, but Mayu uses this to try to get a stab in with Makoto.

It grabs onto Makoto, stopping the stab, but not without cutting into its hand, drawing blood. It lets off of Katashi, changing Mayu's balance, but instead of letting off, it smashes Mayu's left arm, forcing Mayu to the left. With the opening, it jumps up, lets go of Makoto, making Mayu's other arm reach out in front of her, and using its claws, stabs in to her lower chest before jumping off.

Briefly in shock; she quickly recovers and rights herself back to her defensive stance.

"MAYU! Are you ok?" Makoto shouts in concern.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it," Mayu replies, determined to continue fighting.

"Let's just get out of here, you're already injured!" Katashi interjects.

"NO! I said I'm fine!" Mayu shouts back, getting increasingly frustrated with her brothers' concern.

The Black Widow watches to see how Mayu is going to react to her wounds, seeing that she is going to continue to fight; it charges in for a second round.

Mayu catches onto the Black Widow's odd gait in bipedal stance.

"_It must have gotten TOO familiar with running and walking on all fours."_

Having closed the distance, the creature jumps up and prepares to rake its claws all the way down Mayu's body, but having its claws prepared to do that put them level with each other. Coming down, the Black Widow meets Katashi, catching it off guard. It hisses at Mayu in response.

Still in the air, with its momentum still traveling downward, the creature is open. With a horizontal slash from Makoto; the creature drops to the ground letting off of Katashi. Following through, Mayu attempts to execute the Black Widow with a stab, but it jolts out of the way.

Bleeding profusely from the cut, it retreats into the woods, once again returning to bounding between trees.

Pulling Makoto from the ground, Mayu sprints after Black Widow, staying on the defensive in case of an ambush.

"_Hey Katashi, Mayu is bleeding still; I'm going to try to treat her while she moves; she's too in the fight now to listen to us and hold still." _

"_Alright, anything in particular you want me to do?"_

"_If the Black Widow strikes from the front and Mayu doesn't move to block, switch back and take the wounds; I'll cover her for any of the other angles." _

"_Sounds fine."_

To Mayu's shock and slowing her down to a walk, Makoto switches back to human form, quickly taking off his shirt.

"What are you doi-" she begins to ask, but stops once Makoto reveals the answer. He pulls up her shirt up to where the stab wounds are and places his shirt over them, applying pressure.

After following the blood trail into a particularly thick section of trees; they find Black Widow leaning against a huge Oak tree. Its head jolts up to the intruders, another loud crack comes from its neck; it echoes off the trees in the forest.

Black Widow prepares itself, but not before stumbling a bit, revealing that it is not entirely unaffected by blood loss.

With a hiss that isn't far from a cornered cat, it leaps at Yuka, who manages to put Katashi between the two. Makoto quickly returns to weapon form, his shirt dropping to the ground speedily from the blood it had soaked up. Raising Makoto up, Mayu prepares to cut the creature down, but as she is about to slash, Black Widow's face returns to a normal woman's.

Mayu's body tenses up, losing any momentum, _"Wh-what's going on here?"_

Black Widow takes this hesitation as an invitation to kill Mayu, who has dropped her guard. It pushes past Katashi and sends Mayu and itself sprawling onto the ground; Mayu loses her grip on both Makoto and Katashi.

The initial shock stops Black Widow from beginning its assault, but it quickly recovers and begins scraping and scratching all across Mayu's body, completely forgetting Katashi and Makoto.

In a panic, both transform into their human forms, but Makoto keeps his arm as a blade.

With a clean cut from his arm, Makoto decapitates Black Widow. For a brief moment; the blood from the neck sprays in all directions, but the Black Widow's body dissipates before making too much of a mess.

In its place; a red soul floats just over Mayu's body.

Mayu remains on the ground, shakily breathing,_ "w-why did her face change?"_

Her green eyes telegraph a combination of shock and fear.

"Quick, Katashi take off your shirt and use it to stop the bleeding!" Makoto commands frantically.

With shaky hands, he fumbles taking off shirt, taking far longer than Makoto wants.

"Damnit Katashi! Keep it together!" Makoto shouts at him, having the opposite effect he intended, Katashi freezes up.

Makoto jerks off Katashi's shirt and begins shredding it into a few more strips.

Handing one over to Katashi, they both begin applying pressure to Mayu's wounds trying to stop most of the bleeding for the time being.

"_Once again, they worry themselves over me and my wounds…" _Mayu contemplates.

"Stay with us Mayu!" Katashi shouts.

"Just focus on breathing Mayu," Makoto worriedly directs.

Looking up at the worried face of her brothers with the dark green backdrop of the canopy of the forest, Mayu, in an attempt curb their worrying, smiles at them.

"_I HATE IT! I HATE PUTTING THEM IN THIS SITUATION, I HATE THAT CREATURE FOR WOUNDING ME, AND MOST OF ALL I HATE MYSELF FOR MAKING THEM WORRY!"_

With that last thought; she passes out.

"Uh… Makoto," Katashi weakly pushes out.

"Wh-Mayu?" Makoto stammers, seeing what Katashi was pointing out to him: Mayu's eyes have closed.

Their faces drain of their color at the thought of losing Mayu.

"C-check her pulse Makoto," Katashi weakly orders.

Makoto puts his fingers on her neck, and briefly tenses up at the lack of a beat. Moving his fingers further upwards he begins to feel the artery pumping.

Makoto lets out a sigh of relief,_ "Its beating faster than usual, but it's there, and that's what is important."_

"She's fine for now Katashi, but we need to find a reflective surface to inform Lord Death on what happened, and ask what we should do."

Besides a few smaller cuts, Mayu's wounds have stopped bleeding.

"Here you take the soul this time; I'll carry her while you look for a reflective surface to call Lord Death with," Makoto explains, before standing up and placing Mayu on his back.

"Alright," Katashi solemnly acknowledges, stuffing the kishin egg into his sheathe.

Side-by-side they begin walking silently through the forest, which, seemingly out of respect, remains quiet as well.

"I knew this was a bad idea…" Makoto breaks the silence, voicing his concern.

"I know, I know, but as much as we want to protect her; we also have got to be there for her and believe in her decisions... otherwise…" Katashi trails off.

"She's going to begin pushing us away?" Makoto finishes, although Katashi wishes he hadn't.

* * *

"Shouldn't we help them?" A timid voice asks from the shadows.

"No Tsubaki, we've been forbidden from helping them during evaluation," a higher pitched male voice replies.

* * *

**Lied again! I say I'm going to put all 3 in same chapter, but then I just end up writing more than I anticipate. So, 2 more chapters until follow-up at most... maybe.**

**Update news: Figured out what I'm officially doing for this arc, and also I have been inspired from a picture for a Demon Sword and its wielder. **

**Still need witch OCs! Before submitting a male one PM me!**

**Thanks to the images section of the Creepypasta wiki, I'll never run out of ideas for Evil Humans. **

**Thanks to ClericofMadness for posting Black Widow.**

**If you spot a problem with consistency with your character, the writing, or the story do not be afraid to tell me.**


	5. Hope?

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner.**

**I felt like this should be a stand-alone chapter, as supplementing with more story would damage the impact, in my opinion. **

* * *

Deep within the forests of Wyoming, there is a clearing; the remnants of a small farm. The occupants have long since disappeared, death befalling all but one. This one girl killed her parents, but she did not have to lift a finger.

Cornelius and Abraxas were more than obliged to do so, being the Demon Weapon apparitions. Born from the black blood that perpetually drips from the paintbrushes' bristles; Cornelius gored the father with his horns jutting from his Ram skull, while Abraxas shredded the mother to ribbons with his bladed scales on his snout.

All the while Myra screamed for them to stop; she couldn't run away, the Demon Brush had fused to her hand, and she was, in fact, drug into the house by the apparitions.

After they had finished, they drug her to a chair from the dining room; the once bright white paint provided fond memories of quiet dinners, but now the wood has splintered and the paint has faded-it now seems to only remind her that she is trapped here, with these monsters, for all eternity.

She does not eat; Cornelius has told her that the Black Blood keeps her nourished.

She does not sleep; Abraxas has told her that the Black Blood keeps her awake.

She does not move; the creatures use the Black Blood to restrain her to this chair.

She does not think; for the horrors use the Black Blood to inject information directly into her.

She does not hope; for a time she hoped that somebody, anybody, would save her, but the pair has ensured that there is no hope.


	6. Tiny

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

The ominous silence does not linger long as they reach the sparring room. Soul, leading the way, pushes through the doors revealing a man in a white lab coat. He is sitting backwards on a roller computer chair, resting his head on top of his forearms, which lie on the back of the chair. Stiches cross along the coat and face; a large screw penetrates all the way through his head.

A large grin spreads across his face upon the student's arrival, unnerving all but Ophion.

"Great, you found them before they ended up too far away," Dr. Stein compliments, "now, let's begin the experiment."

"Experiment? What experiment?" Jared asks.

"Uhh," Soul hesitates, "oh, that's just how Dr. Stein refers to everything, don't worry about it."

"_Liar," _Anstice thinks, crossing her arms across her chest.

"_Then I wonder why Soul isn't the only Spartoi here," _Ophion contemplates, observing that seven other students line the walls of the sparring room, in full Spartoi uniform.

"If you don't mind me asking Doctor Stein, why are there other Spartoi students here?" Jared asks politely, "no offense to you guys." _"But I'm not sure I can fight being spectated like this…"_

Sensing Jared's nervousness, Ophion gives him a pat on the back, "don't worry, buddy, I'll be here with you."

"Spartoi students need to constantly train to be the best," Dr. Stein explains, "so; it only makes sense for them to be here."

Jared shrugs and gives a smile, Ophion follows suit with his own flamboyant shrug, Alice has tuned out after not being engaged this whole time, and Anstice remains firm, biting her lip, arms across her chest.

"Come, come, quit hesitating, and prepare yourselves!" Dr. Stein shouts, eager to begin.

Jared and Ophion move to the right side of the room, Soul in tow.

"Good luck man," Soul wishes, grinning, as he walks past to take his position next to a girl with ash blonde pigtails.

"Thanks," Ophion replies.

"Not going to lie to ya, Ophion; I'm quite nervous to be fighting against Alice, let alone the seven pairs of eyes," Jared whispers to his partner.

"Once we start, you won't even remember being such a wuss," Ophion assures, "as usual, take my arm."

Jared does so, and Ophion transforms and wraps around Jared in his usual fashion.

Meanwhile, Alice and Anstice are still standing at the entrance, Anstice waiting on her meister to lead the way, but she doesn't realize Alice has zoned out.

After a few awkward moments, Anstice taps Alice on the shoulder.

Realizing what happened and seeing Jared and Ophion ready to fight, she apologizes and moves on the opposite end. She grabs onto Anstice, still cross-armed, and she transforms.

"_I guess if they qualify, Harvar and I will be the ones to train those two," a_ Spartoi along the back wall deliberates.

What she doesn't realize is that Jared has already set himself up with an advantage, taking to the far end of the room.

"_Well, that's something he's got going for him," _Dr. Stein reflects, noticing the large distance between Alice and Jared.

Stein grins with excitement again, "Ready?"

Both Alice and Jared nod.

"Begin!"

* * *

With his diminutive partner, Ledo examines the mission board, trying to find the one that will be the easiest. Finding one reading "Tiny", he reads over the description and holds the posting out to Amy.

"What do you think of this one?" Ledo asks.

She jumps, startled at the sudden address.

"Uh… sorry about that; should I tap you on the shoulder, like Alice, or something?" Ledo wonders.

Amy's face turns a bright red from embarrassment; her eyes rush straight to the floor.

"_Great, she won't even talk to me," _Ledo complains in his head.

Working up a bit of courage, Amy speaks, "I-its fine, l-let's just go and finish it."

"_And she's scared of me, even better." _

"Well, alright."

The posting's location is in a Louisiana swamp, neither seems to care.

It does seem to bother the three Spartoi students who were eavesdropping on the two, once they receive a copy from Lord Death.

"Kilik, what's a Louisiana?" a small boy with a dark complexion asks.

"A state in the US," the similarly pigmented boy responds, placing his hands on the back of his dreadlocks, "we're going to have to change out from these white clothes."

Traveling would be painfully awkward for the two, but both seem perfectly content to remain silent. Ledo, like Alice, has a tendency to begin to lose focus and stop thinking, while Amy watches and observes all the people around the two.

Having thanked the man for taking them to their location, the duo begins making their way through the Louisiana marshlands.

Amy lets out a quiet sigh, having lost people to observe; she awaits the inevitable from Ledo, who hasn't spoken to her since leaving the school.

Ledo remains oblivious to both the sigh and his partner's tensed up body, instead thinking about how small "Tiny" will be.

Any illusion that Ledo had about "Tiny," concerning size, is shattered, as it rises out of the marsh.

Tiny would be one of the last words either would use, right ahead of "beautiful" and "not-vomit inducing."

Tiny stares at them from narrow slits, the entirety of the eyes bulge from its head. Its mouth stays perpetually open, its teeth are sharp but small, and the tongue lulls out of its mouth, ending in a fleshy sac. The neck is a deep red, segmented in circular sections; white bones follow along from the chest to the skull.

Having determined the duo as a threat, it stands all of the way out of the march, revealing a mysteriously disproportionate body. Its chest is impossibly broad, being a disgusting red reminiscent of entrails; the left arm is semi-normal, but its right arm pulsates from the veins delivering blood to the defined muscle. The shoulder bone has expanded into a shield on the arm, and the bone reaches around the back of the neck in a collar fashion. Its left leg follows the semi normal motif, but the right is just a grotesque mass of flesh.

The duo gags from the creature's appearance, but they maintain composure.

Ledo grabs on to Amy's arm, breaking her out of the creature's ghastly gaze. She transforms, and Ledo charges the creature, which at the distance, didn't seem far too big.

Ledo stops in his tracks as the creature stands on its hind legs like a bear, reaching what Ledo estimates to be 13 feet. Tiny leans back over, and begins to shamble over to Ledo.

Ledo holds Amy out in front of him, watching the creature and waiting to see how the creature decides to engage.

Tiny drops its shoulder and begins to charge at Ledo, faster than he thought the creature capable of.

It continues to rush.

"_I wonder if…" _Ledo contemplates.

He lets out a breath and begins to focus.

The trees in the distance start to fade, and the smell of decay removes itself from his nostrils. Before long, all he can see is Amy's blade and Tiny charging.

The creature gets to the end of Amy and Ledo sidesteps out of the way. With its head buried into its plate shoulder; Tiny does not see the movement.

Ledo reels back Amy horizontally and cuts along the elbows and knees of the creature. Tiny falls onto its chest and skids into the marsh, sending muck all around.

Amy transforms back into human form, "is it dead?"

Ledo lets out another breath, quickly regaining his sense of smell and sight of his surroundings.

"What?" Ledo asks, knowing that she said something, but couldn't make it out while still focused.

"Is it dead?" Amy questions again.

"That's kind of a silly thing to ask, it hasn't-" Ledo starts, but Amy hasn't finished.

"Because it better not be; I want to inflict more pain upon it!"

Dumbfounded, Ledo searches for a response, but all he can muster is a point at Tiny as it rises back out of the marsh.

Black liquid swirls about the creature's body, regenerating the lost limbs.

With a great amount of gusto; the creature whips it's quickly regenerating forearm at Ledo.

"_It won't reach me from there," _Ledo assures himself, grabbing back onto Amy, who is now grinning like a child that has just received a bunch of Christmas presents. After fully regenerating, Tiny's clawed hand does, in fact, reach Ledo.

From sheer reflex his body hops backwards, causing the Tiny's claws to only create scrapes along Ledo's chest. The hop jerks his upper-body forward; he still holds onto Amy's hilt tightly.

Awkwardly, the creature rears its body around to whip its arm again.

Adjusting himself, Ledo braces with his legs and puts Amy's blade at the angle the creature begins its attack. It unleashes the attack, but the arm easily cleaves on Amy's blade, sending it flying away.

"_YES! Now cut off its shoulders or disembowel it," _Amy commands Ledo excitedly.

In mid-air; it melts into a black liquid and returns to its owner. Once again, the liquid reforms the sliced off arm.

Using its other arm, it snatches up Ledo, who had become stunned at the actions of the liquid.

Pulling Ledo up to its face, it scans him over as he struggles to get out of its grasp.

"_Sorry Amy."_

He drops Amy in an effort to use both hands to escape, but he quickly realizes that this action proved futile.

With a loud splash, Amy hits the water; tip first, leaving most of her sword form jutting out of the water. She transforms, keeping her arm as her blade, but on a smaller scale. She systematically begins cutting and slicing at the creature's belly, trying to get Tiny to drop Ledo out of pain.

Although not completely so; a sadistic pleasure is evident by a large grin spreading across her face as blood splatters on her skirt.

Despite the deep wounds she is inflicting, the creature remains completely unfazed; its gaze remaining on Ledo.

Finally, the creature grunts, as if it had made a decision.

Amy looks up and Ledo looks down the arm.

In slow motion, both watch the veins strain against the skin; the muscles in the arm tensing up. Once the wrist tenses up, a sickening crack as Ledo's ribs break under the pressure of the squeeze pierces the air.

Satisfied with its decision; Tiny drops Ledo into the water below and shifts its attention to the girl below him.

Shocked by the execution of Ledo, she staggers back.

She turns to run, but something is holding her in place by her ankle.

"_So this is how I die?" _Amy questions herself; her life flashes before her eyes, and because of this she does not hear Ledo groaning as he pulls himself out of the water.

The creature moves to crush them both, but Amy quickly snaps out of her death visions as Ledo puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Transform, Amy!" Ledo requests.

Tiny's fist seems to be focused on crushing Amy; she stands, mouth agape, as the fist comes crashing down onto her shoulder, snapping the collarbone instantly. Ledo isn't sure if she transformed out of reflex, or a slow response, but she does.  
Ledo's shoulder gets jerked out of its socket as Amy gets forced downward in weapon form. He switches arms and takes in a preparatory breath.

This time, he has become deaf; and the only thing he can see is Tiny and Amy.

Unable to feel the snapping of more ribs; he pulls back Amy and takes a few preparatory steps.

With a burst of adrenaline, Ledo unleashes Amy, cleaving Tiny in half.

Tiny's knees buckle and the lower half falls into the marsh water.

Just after, two more splashes occur.

One is from Tiny's torso.

The other is from Ledo, who collapses onto his hands and knees after taking his relaxing breath.

"_I think... I think... I may have pushed it too hard," _Ledo runs through his head; his mouth far too occupied coughing up blood and sputtering.

"_Aww; we should have inflicted more pain_ _upon-" _ Amy's face contorts from disappointment to worry and pain as the last bit of adrenaline makes its way out of her body.

She grabs onto her shoulder in an attempt to soothe the pain, but it does nothing. She walks over to Ledo; face still grimacing from her collarbone.

"Are you ok?" Amy concernedly asks.

Between sputters he manages to get out, "just peachy."

* * *

"Hey Lord Death; the prospects appear to be fairly injured from their fight," Kilik informs.

"Oh my, Tiny _was_ pretty high on the difficulty level," Lord Death mentions.

He briefly reviews the injuries of the pair, "as much as I want to see how they get out of this; my students lives are far too valuable to risk."

"So?" Kilik wonders.

"Go and help them," Lord Death commands.

"Yes sir."

With that, Kilik, Thunder, and Fire jump out of the shadows and rush to help the two.

Amy takes a defensive stance in front of Ledo at the sound of three pairs of feet splashing through the water.

She drops her guard once she sees the Spartoi pins on their clothing.

"We're here to help you, Amy," Kilik states, trying to sound as soothing as possible.

"Okay," she quietly replies while standing aside.

Kilik moves to Ledo's side, dropping down on one knee.

"Can you walk?" Kilik asks.

His coughing has stopped, but he remains rigid in his position.

"I don't think so," Ledo manages to answer.

"Alright then, buddy; I'm going to carry you on my back," Kilik clarifies.

With a grimace and a groan, Ledo ends up on Kilik's back.

Kilik gives him thumbs-up and a smile to Amy, "Good job you two, don't forget to collect your reward."

Amy doesn't realize what he is talking about until she looks over at the location where Tiny fell. A bright red soul has taken the body's place.

She becomes flustered at what she feels to be four pairs of eyes on her back. Amy grasps the soul, and her golden dragon appears from her forearm; swallowing the soul whole.

"As I said, good job guys, let's head back to school," Kilik instructs, while beginning to walk in the direction of the setting sun.

* * *

**Thanks to Dbhead at the Creepypasta wiki for the upload for Tiny. **

**What do you guys think of the custom-made cover? **

**Insofar, witch OC's still needed. **

**Thanks to reviewers for reviewing. **

**If you spot a problem with consistency with your character, the writing, or the story do not be afraid to tell me.**


	7. Sparring Match

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner.**

* * *

Jared positions his body horizontally, stamping his foot down and places his arms out in front of his body.

"_What the hell was that?" _Ophion requests, barely holding back his laughter.

"_Uh, positioning my body I guess?" _Jared replies.

"_Just shut up and fight… actually, do you even remember how to use me? Or have you already forgotten?" _Ophion enquires with venom in his voice.

Alice stands in her starting area, unsure of how to position her body outside of pointing Anstice horizontally.

"_I know how to use you, at least a little bit, but it doesn't seem like Alice has any idea how to wield Anstice; I feel kind of bad…" _Jared answers back.

"_I have an idea, just wrap my chains around her and slowly constrict her to death." _

"_I'm not even going to respond to that." _

"_You just did."_

"_Shut up!" _

Still awkwardly standing, Alice turns to Anstice for advice, _"Anstice, could you help me out here?" _

Anstice sighs, _"angle my points towards our opponent's neck or throat, and place your right hand on my butt end from above, then, place your other hand about halfway along my shaft from underneath." _

Alice complies.

"_Now, place your feet about shoulder width apart, and remember to keep your rear hand in a firm grasp; I'm not a javelin." _

Observing Alice reposition herself eases Jared's conscience, but only slightly.

"_Guess I'll just test her agility and reflexes first." _

Jared plunges his right arm downward, and Ophion's clamp disappears into the matted floor. In seconds, Ophion's head reemerges right in front of Alice, angled directly for her throat.

"_Alice move!" _Anstice frantically commands.

Just before reaching her throat, she hops sideways; Ophion's head glides past her shoulder. She can see the chains moving at a rapid pace before abruptly stopping and reversing direction.

With her mind so focused on Ophion's chains; she doesn't see Jared jerking his right arm back and throwing his left arm forward, sending Ophion's tail straight for her.

She sees it coming far too late, and she braces for the stab…

But it never comes.

She opens her eyes and sees the chain taut; the end mere inches from her chest.

"Alice; you need to quit paying attention to Ophion and-" Jared stops momentarily, trying to reword his advice, because it's important to watch him and see when he extends Ophion, but it's also necessary to pay attention to Ophion, "well… uh- you need to pay attention to both your opponent and their weapon, cause I could have ended the fight right there."

Jared's becomes a bit flustered for his choice of words, realizing that it's stating the obvious and Alice probably already knows that.

Both Anstice and Ophion wonder the exact same thing, _"Why is he giving her advice?" _

Retracting Ophion's tail; Jared stamps his foot down again and positions himself back to his default position.

Alice takes a firm grip on Anstice, "thank you," even from this distance; she can tell that he's trying to genuinely help her.

"_Hmm… let's see how strong she is."_

Jared forces out his right hand, sending Ophion's head straight towards Anstice. Taking another step to the left; Alice moves out of the way of Ophion's head.

Thinking that she is in the clear, Alice tries to move in closer, but before she can begin; she feels a powerful tug coming from Anstice. She looks down to see Ophion's chain re-angled and has bitten down on Anstice's shaft.

Jerking his right arm back, Jared tries to retract Ophion, which lurches Alice forward, but she's determined to keep a firm grip on Anstice.

"_Hmph; I'm surprised she kept her footing," _Jared compliments in his head.

Jared keeps a constant pull on Ophion, forcing Alice to pull back in response, creating a tug-of-war for Anstice.

Satisfied that she has committed to pulling hard enough, Jared pushes Ophion forward before releasing him. Alice falls over backwards; Anstice still in hand.

"_Oh, I get it… that was just a maneuver so you could see up her skirt," _Ophion decides, sounding like he was confused before.

"_Wh-what? There was no intention for me to do that at all," _Jared reacts defensively.

"_Oh, so you just so happen to knock a girl with a skirt on her back, sure buddy," _Ophion states, trying to sound offended.

"_Yes! Besides, from this distance I can barely make out her face, let alone see up her skirt," _Jared answers back, trying to defend himself with logic.

"Hey Alice! Jared here just did that so he could see up your skirt; he just told me so himself, and being the gentleman I am; I refuse to take part in his deviant behavior," Ophion shouts out for the entire sparring room to hear.

"_Can't say I didn't see that coming…" _ Jared glumly remarks, cursing his twenty-twenty hindsight.

"I said no such thing!" Jared shouts back, his face likening a ripe tomato.

"Oh ho! Regretting that your perverted thoughts sometimes slip out, are you?" Ophion enquires.

"He is a liar and a fiend!" Jared spouts back.

Alice stands back up and dusts herself off, seeing as how Jared has become occupied arguing with Ophion.

"_Are they toying with us? Surely they can't be this argumentative," _Anstice exasperatedly questions Alice.

"_I don't think so… Jared seems pretty sincere about not trying to look up my skirt, but I can't really determine Ophion's intentions," _Alice clarifies.

"_Well, they're distracted, might as well see if we can end this," _Anstice points out.

"_Right." _

Ophion moves his head to be level with Jared's as they continue to bicker.

He notices Alice charge in and subtly sends down Ophion's tail and holds it underground, but he does not break eye contact with Ophion.

Alice gets within stabbing range and thrusts Anstice forward.

However, Ophion's encircling chains pull taut and catch Anstice's outer blades, stopping Alice's thrust abruptly.

Jared grins, "don't think I've forgotten that I'm fighting."

With a flick upwards from his left wrist, Ophion's tail reemerges from the ground, catching Alice off-guard enough to slice across her outer thigh as she pulls Anstice out of the Ophion's chains and jumps to the right.

Alice thrusts in again, this time angling Anstice horizontally, and Jared jumps back, but not before catching a scrape from Anstice's main spear tip.

He retracts Ophion's tail.

"_I suppose now would be as good a time as ever to tell you about Viper's Blessing," _Ophion mentions.

"_Viper's Blessing?" _Jared quizzically responds, repeatedly jumping backwards to avoid Alice's thrusts that Ophion fails to catch.

"_Make some space and pull your left arm back, then begin focusing your soul wavelength there," _Ophion instructs.

Jared jumps back once more, flicks his left wrist down, and jerks his right arm forward.

The tail submerges and emerges, forcing Alice to jump to the right, ending her assault, but the tail follows, triggering her to jump back. Having created the space, Jared retracts Ophion's tail, but his head continues to follow Alice as she tries to avoid it.

Jared pulls back his left arm, following Ophion's instructions, for a short moment and begins to focus his wavelength. A bright blue-green energy begins to circle around Jared's feet, creating enough energy to begin blowing his jacket around.

"_They're going to use a soul resonance in a sparring match?" _or something similar passes through the minds of all of the Spartoi.

"_Now, you can use falling fang by lifting up and throwing this arm down, rising fang with an upwards swing, or sweeping fang with a low launch," _Ophion clarifies.

Jared retracts Ophion's head, which had been continuing its job of following Alice around.

Alice becomes unsure of how she should approach Jared, now that this energy has been built up.

"_Anstice, what should we do?" _Alice requests.

"_Try doing what they're doing; focus your soul wavelength on my tips_," Anstice commands.

"_How'd you know they were doing that?" _Alice wonders before complying.

"_By the energy that is encircling Jared's feet, it's clear that they are resonating, even if it isn't a full blown resonance," _Anstice enlightens.

A few seconds pass before a dark violet energy begins to flow from Anstice's tips.

Doctor Stein can barely contain his excitement, opting instead for a humongous grin_._

Confident that Anstice will out-range anything Jared can throw, Alice charges in, thrusting just a few inches within range.

Jared swings his left arm upwards, unleashing the energy that had been stored up, but his arm stops like it is fighting against a restraint.

The dark violet and blue-green collide, being backed by Alice's thrust and Jared's arm.

Both meisters let out a battle cry before the dark violet pierces through the blue-green wave, reaching through Ophion's chains and piercing Jared square in the chest.

However, the blue-green wave continues onward as Jared's arm finally breaks free from the resistance, with Ophion's flat part of his tail connecting with Alice's chin.

Backed by the potent added energy, Jared gets sent flying back into the wall, almost smashing into Soul, who has to quickly jump out of the way to avoid getting caught up.

Meanwhile, Alice gets launched far into the air, briefly getting knocked out from the impact of Ophion's tail. Disoriented by the short disconnect in sensory input she cannot right herself to attempt to lessen the fall damage.

Jared, after colliding with the wall and falling to the ground, remains semi-conscious, but his vision is quickly darkening.

"_I hoped I would never have to ask you a favor, but this one time, would you please catch her?" _Jared pleads.

Ophion lets out an angry sigh, _"fine." _

From Jared's arms, Ophion's chain hastily extends out towards Alice.

"_Ehehehe, I'll at least give everyone a scare," _Ophion concedes.

An audible gasp comes from most of the Spartoi, as the angle at which Ophion is fast approaching puts him at stabbing straight up through Alice's foot.

At the last minute, Ophion's chains jut downwards, catching Alice in midair before setting her down.

Ophion transforms back to his human form, and Jared's last sight is Ophion's crotch as he squats down next to him. Ophion begins to spin his fedora on his finger and poking Jared with his other hand.

"Helloooo, you alive in there?" Ophion asks curtly.

Near the middle of the mat; Anstice transforms back to human as well.

Alice tries to get up.

"Stay down," Anstice coldly orders.

Alice obeys and stops trying to get up.

Doctor Stein shoots up from his chair and begins clapping, "Good show you guys," Doctor Stein begins, "now, four Spartoi, go and get a pair of stretchers and take these two to my infirmary."

The two pair closest, being a pink haired girl with a brown haired counterpart, and a visored boy with his partner, leaves the sparring room.

"_I'm going to give these students a full examination; hopefully Tiny and Black Widow were sufficiently powerful so I can also examine Ledo Weiss and Amy Nightingale," _Doctor Stein runs through his head.

The Spartoi students return, stretcher in hand, and the remaining students help the immobile meisters onto them.

"Ophion, Anstice, please go with your meisters to the infirmary," Doctor Stein commands.

They both quickly leave at his request, and a silence befalls the room as the remaining occupants await the return of the other Spartoi students.

Quietly opening the door; the four students return promptly.

* * *

"Well, first of all, what do you think of the candidates?" Doctor Stein inquires.

The visored boy's partner quickly shoots up his hand.

"Yes, Ox?"

"Before I can express my opinions on them, first, I must ask, why did you put these students up for candidacy? Their profiles say that this is the first time Alice has even _been_ in a fight, and Jared has not directly fought with anyone," Ox identifies.

"Well, in Jared's case, it's because he's the only one that seems to connect with Ophion without any ill effects, as Maka can tell you, Ophion is an immortal, not that that is the only reason, mind you, but it's the main reason; Alice has a high aptitude for team cohesion and Anstice has a strong drive to get better," Dr. Stein begins with a long winded explanation, "Ledo has an odd ability to focus on a target to see and predict all movements of the target, and, when used in conjunction with Amy's Soul resonance provides them with a huge bonus in combat…" he takes a breath, "finally, Mayu and her brothers have been fighting since they were young, it's just a matter of honing their skills."

"Well then, my next complaint is that I believe this fight should only have little weight, or none at all on their performance," Ox notions.

"Why is that?"

"On Alice's side, you just threw her and Anstice into this fight; she barely even knew how to wield her, and on Jared's end, he was very clearly not fighting at full potential… in fact; I believe you could say that about them both," Ox explains.

"Well then, that's what you think, what of the others?" Doctor Stein questions, spinning to break his conversation with Ox.

The girl with ash blonde pig tails speaks up, and with a bit of disdain, "I hate to admit it, but I agree with Ox; we all should take this fight with a grain of salt."

With nods and mumbled agreement; the Spartoi students seem to come to a consensus.

"Well, remember, there's no time to be sending them on a mission, as your evaluations are due Thursday students," Doctor Stein reminds, "and that being five days away I suggest you try your best to pick up some secondary information somehow."

"How long until we get the tapes for candidate Ledo Weiss and Mayu Yuki and their partners?" Ox inquires.

"Should be given to you by tomorrow, along with the tapes for this fight, and reports from my _examinations_," Doctor Stein answers, voice shaking with excitement on "examinations."

Most of the Spartoi students shudder as they remember Stein's "examinations."

* * *

**Reviews help me learn what I could be doing better, don't be afraid to tell me you noticed that I could use some work somewhere. I won't be mad, and everyone has their opinions.  
**

**Anyways, Witch OC's still needed. **

**AND finally, it is time for the follow-up PM. I'll be customizing them and sending them out over the next few days. **


	8. Mass

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

The purple-tinted sky serves background to the large portal opening up to the desolate world known as the witch's realm. The few witches that step through the portal do so depressingly, as they know why this meeting has been called to order.

A couple witches sigh at the sight of the Witch's castle, for they know that the buildings that were once just old have transitioned to decrepit in the past 3 years-a sign of the witches' declining power.

They enter; half worried that the buildings will collapse upon them at any moment.

The visiting witches shuffle into the meeting room, holding the smallest Witch Mass yet, noting that the stone interior has received a few more large cracks.

They look up at the crumbling symbol of their people; the bent in cross has lost one of its arms, and the already present cracks have only become wider.

Once the stragglers from the entrance portal arrive and take their places; Mabaa takes her position beneath the center of the inward bent cross.

Her black robe is peculiar in that several bobby pins hang off, and it completely hides her face, except for a piercing eye peeking out over the collar. Mabaa's gray witch hat likens to a jack o' lantern; the eyes glow a deep red and a black void absorbs the observer between a set of jagged teeth.

"Welcome witches; we come together today to discuss our dire situation… as many of you know, our numbers are beginning to dwindle," Mabaa starts on a solemn note.

The remaining few witches nod; they look around, remembering the once many eager faces.

Now, many hide behind their hoods, fearing that they too will fall victim to the voracious beasts that are the Demon weapons of the Death Weapon Meister Academy.

Sensing the dread among her subjects, she continues, "Fear not, I have a plan to destroy that accursed school and all those who associate with it, however; I want to know if any of you have any ideas to help our plight."

A witch standing near the back wearing a jacket, which has a pastel pink body and pastel yellow sleeves and hood; the hood has short antler constructions jutting from the top. Keeping with the pastel theme; she wears pastel purple boots.

Shifting her weight from foot to foot; she contemplates a way to help out Mabaa's plan.

She finally comes up with an idea, "Mabaa, how about we try to find Crona and the Ragnarok?"

"I have weighed in on that idea Neoma, and have decided that it would require too many resources to attempt to find him," Mabaa replies, shooting down her suggestion.

"How about we become friends with them?" an abnormally cheery voice suggests from beside Mabaa.

This idea manages to cause many of the hiding witches to glare their eyes out at the owner of the voice, being an unusually dressed witch, directly to the side of Mabaa.

Quickly realizing the owner; they quickly retreat back into their hoods.

The girl's blonde hair contrasts with her azure eyes, and she stands out like a sore thumb among her fellow witches, as she refuses to wear a hood or the gloomy attire of her magical compatriots. She instead wears a dress that goes down to her knees, divided down the middle into white on the left side and black on the right. Her shoes follow a similar pattern, being black sneakers with white laces.

Mabaa slowly floats down next to her adopted daughter… and slaps her on the back of the head with enough force to displace her daughter's black headband.

The locket around her neck opens up before emitting a blinding light, and she transforms, shifting the color scheme of her clothing and hairband to the opposite color.

"_I really do need to make Jewel's transformation a little less… obvious," _Mabaa thinks, making a mental note for later before returning to her position within the bent cross.

"I have an idea! Let's slaughter them all!" Jewel blurts out, no less cheery than before.

"_That's better," _Mabaa acknowledges.

"Well, Jewel, my dear, we need a plan to do that, so does anyone else have any ideas?"

"Maybe we could capture all of these evil humans running around lately and unleash them in Death City?" a witch leaning against one of the cracked columns suggests.

"That is very close to what I'm thinking, and right now we're thinking about ways to improve that plan," Mabaa retorts.

_"Well, in that case; I guess I could share a bit of information I've gathered," _A witch near the center of the witches concedes.

She is wearing something akin to modern ball room dance attire-an ankle length blue dress with forearm-covering white gloves and high-heeled combat boots. Her light blue hair is tied up into a ponytail with a golden ribbon; the bangs of her hair cover half of her hetero-chromatic eyes; the left one being celestial blue and the right malachite green.

"Well; while I was traveling; I saw the Spartoi students having a meeting of some sort outside of the DWMA; they were unsupervised, so we could ambush them there and capture or kill them," she proposes.

"Ah... that's very interesting information Luna; those students are the best in the school, and taking them out before assaulting Death City would be a great blow to their fighting capabilities," Mabaa utters, incorporating this information in her head, "thank you Luna, once we start putting this plan into motion; I'll need you to show us where that location is."

"Anymore information that would assist in the planning?" Mabaa inquires; she wants to know if any of the witches have made contact with the new Demon Sword wielder.

"I have found a prospective resource milady," a woman clad in a rust red robe announces.

"Oh? What is this resource Tanith?" Mabaa questions, curious to see if this resource is something else entirely.

"I've observed a new Demon Sword wielder, who has the ability to infuse black blood into beings and turn them into insane Evil Humans," many of the witches in the room gasp at this revelation, "however; the wielder appears to be comatose, and is directed by two monstrous beings formed from the weapon."

"Good, so someone has found her; the wielder is integral to our plans, and so we will soon set up a mission to capture this wielder," Mabaa dictates.

"It is imperative that none of you tip off the DWMA about our plans, so for now, I am declaring a state of martial witch law," Mabaa announces, "for those of you new here, that means you are unable to leave this realm until further notice."

Some of the witches groan as Mabaa declares the martial law, knowing that they are going to have to sleep on the ancient bunks present in the back building.

"Joma Joma Dabarasa," Mabaa declares, indicating the end of the gathering.

Shortly, the other witches reply back begrudgingly with the same phrase and begin to disperse into the neighboring buildings.

While many of the witches opt for the dining hall and living quarters, Zilla exits the building to sit underneath a decaying Willow tree perched on a hill just a short walk away. The glow of the moon only serves to make her skin seem even paler.

Zilla appears to be in her mid-twenties, and is about five foot eight, while also being incredibly thin. She wears a black robe that is held up at the shoulders, since there is a huge U cut out of the fabric in the front, going down past her navel by two inches and exposing the inside of her breasts. Fingerless black evening gloves that have a band in between her index and middle finger cover her forearms and biceps. Zilla's glossy midnight black hair is cut in a long pixie fashion, parted straight down the center. Her thin bangs are parted to cover her temples, come over a bone headpiece that bends out horizontally like antlers, and reach her collarbone.

The most striking feature of Zilla is the black ochre she spreads across her eyes and the bridge of her nose in a rectangular area, so that when she does open her eyes; they contrast eerily with the ochre.

Just as Zilla reaches the willow tree she senses the soul wavelength of another witch behind her. She does not address this other individual until she sits down underneath the drooping branches of the willow tree.

She now hears the footsteps of the other individual, who she senses to have stopped nearby.

"M-miss Zilla; I was wonderin-" the young witch stutters out.

"Young one; I cannot see, and I do not partake in the affairs of other witches, so I ask that you give me your name before you ask me about matters," Zilla interjects.

The girl is shaken by the interruption, but she gulps and answers, "Parisa Lily ma'am."

"I see," Zilla reacts, sensing the nervousness in her voice and Parisa's timid soul; she gestures for Parisa to sit next to her.

Parisa obeys and sits down next to Zilla, still a bit nervous, but not as much as before.

"What do you wish to ask, Parisa?" Zilla questions.

Before Parisa can answer, Zilla senses another being rushing toward their location; however, it is not a witch.

"Parisa, what is this presence I'm sensing?" Zilla presses.

"Oh, her? That's Nixie, she's my fairy," Parisa answers.

"A fairy? What a strange creature for a young witch to have for servitude," Zilla states.

"She's not my slave! We're friends…" Parisa explains, hurt by Zilla's assumption.

"I apologize, how'd you end up becoming friends with her?" Zilla asks, curiosity piqued by the prospect of learning about a magical assistant.

Unfortunately, the question dredges up many bad memories for Parisa, visibly dropping her mood.

Zilla picks up on the shift in her soul wavelength but not Parisa's visual cues, "I guess I am not suited for conversing; I apologize, now, what did you want to ask of me?"

"I-it's alright Ms. Ratri; I was wondering if you could help me with my magic," Parisa requests with tinges of sadness.

"Ah… I fear that I am unable to teach you right now; I must begin my nightly rituals, however, you could ask Tanith or Seraphina; they are what some call… _spunky_," Zilla suggests.

Parisa rises, "thank you Ms. Ratri; I'll go talk to them now."

"It was my pleasure young one," Zilla expresses with a smile.

Parisa makes her way back to the main building; her dull yellow glowing friend flying in tow.

"_Now, where would Seraphina be?" _ Parisa ponders.

A loud crash and, "Too easy! A one star meister could have easily killed you all by themselves!" answers Parisa's thoughts.

Parisa enters to see the fiery Seraphina standing over a disgruntled witch, who is laid out flat on her back.

"Come on! Can anyone here give me a least a little bit of a challenge?" Seraphina shouts out, and she receives only silence and staring, "fine, but you remember this, one day the DWMA is going to learn how to nullify our magic, and you all won't even be able to fight back physically."

All of the witches in the room, including Seraphina's opponent, quickly retreat out of the room, which leaves Parisa and Seraphina alone.


	9. Old Ones Gathering

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

Wary; the researchers continue to search the crystal grove, trying to discover if it hides anymore secrets. Being normal humans; they are unable to see the true secret.

Dark purple souls are entrapped in many of the crystals.

The young man speeds along to the voice that beckons him. Stretching as he rides atop the crystal shard he created; he tries to remember what happened before he encased himself in a crystal.

"_First of all… what is my name?" _the young man wonders, seeing if he can trigger memories from the fateful night, around a millennium ago.

"_Ah yes, it's Hex- Hex Ginneko," _he finally realizes.

Hex managed to create a shard that allows his tall body to sit upon it, being six foot two; it takes a bit of energy to create such a large shard. However; he did not need to make it thick, for Hex is a measly one-hundred pounds.

Noticing he has a small leather pack clipped to his hip; he reaches around and unclips it from his side.

Yanking on the drawstrings of the bag and then reaching in; he pulls out a clear crystal, perfectly dipyramid in shape, and immediately crushes it with his hand. The dust wafts behind, leaving a sparkling tail on his transportation. A white aura remains, focusing for a moment; he sucks the aura into his hand.

He feels a jolt of energy and lets out a sigh of relief, "that makes me feel much better."

The remaining contents of the pouch prove to be less useful; being a small piece of paper with some sort of cryptic writing on it; he feels it's familiar somehow, but he can't quite put his finger on it.

A vial of a sparkling water is the last item that Hex fishes out of the pouch; he swirls the liquid around, but he is unsure what to do with it, so he puts it back in the bag.

"_Maybe the owner of this voice will be able to explain things; it annoys me to no end to not know this kind of stuff," _Hex complains in his head.

He has almost forgotten how he looks.

So, he takes the elbow of his long-sleeved cloak and polishes the crystal he is riding on. Leaning over to take in all of his features; the first thing he notices is his contrasting hair, divided down the center. On the right side, his hair is white, and on the left, black; streaks of the opposite color flow through each. Next, he notices his stormy gray eyes and his odd cat-like pupils.

He notices the wrinkles in the neck of his cloak, revealing a hood, and he feels the tug at the back of his neck. He pushes his arm upward, shifting the loose sleeve downward, so he can feel out behind him. He probes out a cotton cape flowing behind him from the wind resistance.

Peering further down he observes that he is wearing a white shirt without sleeves, chain mesh covering over it. He notes the black denim pants he is wearing are weighted, suggesting that they too, are reinforced with chain mesh. The jeans lead down to leather combat boots that are reinforced with steel along the toe and the sole.

He flies for several hours, before finally arriving where the voice beckoned him, which appears to be nothing but an isolated field.

"_Uhh, am I in the right place?" _Hex ponders.

Far above him; he hears a door open, and a man seemingly floating slowly appears, as if he was slowly exiting a door. The man's forest green robe appears first before the man finally completely reveals himself.

Hex was already high into the air, but the man stands a bit above a nearby cloud. He floats up to get a better look.

His face has the texture of tree bark, and his hair, which reaches down to his shoulders, is mossy in color and design. In his left hand, he wields an Oak staff; the end twisting upwards and ending in a half curl. A dark green aura glows from a Maple leaf levitating just above the twist. The forest green robe reaches all the way down his body, with the chest cradling a metal plate that juts outward.

"Welcome young Hex; you are the first to arrive," the old man greets.

Hex flies toward the old man, "hi, who are you, why are you floating, and how do you know my name?"

Now that he's closer; Hex notices that the old man's skin is, in fact, tree bark.

"I figured the hibernation would cause you guys to lose your memories..." the old man bemoans, "and your manners; anyways, my name is Silvanus Nemesio, take the vial of water out of your pouch and drink it, and you, like myself and the others, were chosen."

"Chosen?" Hex inquires, before beginning to rummage in his pack to pull out the vial.

"Yes, to exterminate the witches, once and for all," Silvanus foretells.

"Exterminate them? Why?" Hex probes, slightly shocked, finally pulling out the vial and uncorking it.

"My, my, you really don't remember anything, do you?" Silvanus rues, "well, come inside; I'm sure you're not the only one to forget; I will tell the story concerning why when the others arrive."

Hex tilts his head back and downs the vial in one drink.

Puzzled as to where he was supposed to enter; he nearly falls off his shard as he jumps back in shock at the magnificent landmass that appears before him. The base shape is a plateau with a hill sitting in the middle. Hex looks back at Silvanus to see that he is standing on a cobblestone path, which circles around the landmass, in front of a large building; one of three that line the base of the hill of the landmass. Another mansion sits inside the hill, and atop it sits a huge castle.

From where Hex is standing; the castle appears to abruptly begin near the top of the hill, starting with a thick wall. Windows dot the outer walls. Within these walls; what appears to be a cathedral sits, which is centered on the hill. A tower lords over the landmass, jutting out from the middle of the cathedral. He can't tell if the cathedral at center is connected to the walls or if there is an inner ward.

Hex leans over the edge of his shard, revealing that he had ascended past the clouds, as well as the fact that there is a rough cone of earth beneath the beginning of the foundation.

"How is this th-" Hex tries to ask, but Silvanus cuts him off.

"I'll explain all in due time, please come inside."

Hex obeys, stepping off of his shard and onto the platform in front of the doorway. He morphs the shard into a small dypyramid and stores it in the pouch before turning and stepping inside.

Following Silvanus; Hex makes note of the oddly plain interior.

"I thought this mansion would have a more ornate interior," Hex mentions.

Silvanus lets out a hearty laugh before replying, "no, these were the living quarters for the disciples; Illusion refused to coddle his disciples."

"Illusion? Disciples?" Hex continues his stream of questions.

"Once again; I'll explain when the others arrive."

"Fine," Hex responds, pouting a little bit.

After walking through a hallway; the duo enter a grand dining hall.

Long Oak tables sit in three rows, with several chairs awaiting the return of the disciples. Hot pink banners line the walls; large dull pink I's, which have a red violet aura bordering the letters, stretch along the banners.

Silvanus moves to the head of a table, motioning to Hex to sit down in the chair to the right.

"Wait right here; I must go greet the other eight," Silvanus orders.

"Alright; I guess?" Hex answers, "is there anything I could do while I wait, instead of just sitting around?"

"I suppose you could come outside with me, hopefully one of them will jog your memory," Silvanus concedes.

"Better than sitting around here," Hex admits.

Hex follows Silvanus back outside.

_"Why did he make me follow him inside and then back out?" _Hex questions himself.

"Because; I was going to just send them along to you, and you could possibly jog each other's memory before I called us to order," Silvanus explains.

"H-How did y-" Hex stutters out.

Silvanus's bark skin parts a little bit, trying to create a smile, "I have an affinity for the beings of Earth due to my time as a Natural magic disciple; I am able to understand the whims of the Earth and the beings inhabiting it."

"Oh," Hex grunts.

A thunderous laughter pierces the air; the owner having a deep baritone voice.

From below, a man that appears to be in his twenties flies upward.

"Silvanus, you old dog, how ya doing?" a man clad in bright red plate-mail inquires.

"Ahh, Zayden, as boisterous as ever I see," Silvanus answers with a tinge of annoyance.

If Hex could use one word to describe Zayden; it would be "overkill."

Zayden stands atop a shark gray tome; the cover has varying sizes of torch red rubies encrusted inside. A light gray rectangle sits in the middle of the tome, emphasizing the perfectly cut ruby placed in the center socket.

His black hair is spiked up in the front; the right bang curving out to his forehead. The top is cut very short, almost buzz cut, and the back, which is as long as the front of his hair, is gelled backwards. The most eerie thing about Zayden is that his magical studies have wrought a strange change in his eyes.

They have no pupils, and they might as well be embers glowing white hot in the center.

He stands at about the same height as Hex, but his armor gives him a formidable size. Wrapped around his neck is the shredded remnants of a wizard's mantle; the cape comes to rest behind him, torn at the ends. Despite the shredded neck cover and cape; the abdominal cover is in perfect condition, even the gold rings inlaid in a triangle shine as if they had recently been forged. The rest of his armor follows the bright red motif.

Scale-mail peeks out from underneath his base armor.

A great sword is strapped to his back with chains.

Although, it is more like a smaller sword encased within a bladed steel border surrounding it; parallelogram spaces dot outward from the interior sword.

Zayden lets out another clamorous laugh upon seeing Hex there, "you are Ratan's apprentice right?"

"Ratan?" Hex seeks.

Once again with a laugh, "Oh-ho, little Hex has forgotten who taught him how to use crystalline magic?"

"He's forgotten everything; I'm afraid," Silvanus interjects.

"How unfortunate... never fear, Hex; I, Zayden Beckett, will help jog your memory," Zayden shouts.

"Thanks?" Hex expresses, confused as to why Zayden is so energetic after just waking up.

"Let us enter the disciple quarters and acquire some food, little buddy; I am quite hungry," Zayden announces.

"Food's in the dining hall, don't be afraid to rush in there and get some food and wait in there," Silvanus points out, _"I'm starting to miss the solitude already, but ridding the world of witches is more important." _

Zayden steps off of his tome, which takes its place at his side, just floating. Amazingly, he begins to sprint inside despite his heavy equipment; Hex follows behind at a much leisurely pace.

Silvanus lets out a sigh of relief now that Zayden has left.

Even while inside, Silvanus can still hear Zayden, who is telling stories about his many battles in an attempt to reawaken Hex's memories.

Night arrives very quickly while Silvanus awaits the return of the others; he begins to worry, as he no longer hears Zayden's loud voice from within the building.

With a blaze of purple energy another Old One appears.

"Ah, Methusaleh, welcome," Silvanus greets.

"The spirits foretold my arrival, were you able to hear them Silvanus?" Methusaleh greets back.

"No; I was not made aware of your coming arrival."

"I see, then I must begin practicing my rituals again."

Methusaleh has grey-green skin, giving him a sense of pestilence. He has a muscular abdomen and chest, with defined muscle in his arms and legs. His head no longer has flesh, and is just a human skull. Wrapped around the top of his head is a dead branch, jutting out in three prongs. The center ends in another human skull, contorted into a scream, raven feathers dangle from underneath.

Extending out from behind the branch wrap are strands of rigid, royal-red hair, which flow out in all directions. Creating a bush of hair that appears to be soft as a cloud from a distance, but it is actually stiff as a board.

He has a finger-bone necklace; the bones tightly placed together, hiding the transition from his skull to his skin. Wrapped around his waist is a leather belt; a lime green opal is socketed in the ovular stone section of the front of the belt. Runic inscriptions surround the border of the opal. Clipped to the belt are two more skulls, which have beaded white feathers drooping from them.

The belt holds up a gray dhoti, which allows him free movement.

He turns and begins making his way to the building on the far right side of the landmass, his bare feet smacking against the cobblestone.

"Alright then, I'll send for you when all of the others have arrived," Silvanus calls out.

* * *

**Those 4 days of waiting sapped my motivation a lot.**

**However, progress on introducing the Old Ones and the Witches is progressing, this chapter won't be chapter 9 for long, as I have been jumping between writing the Old Ones intros and the Witches. So, there will be a another Witch chapter inserted between this one and the first. **

**I figured I'd give you guys some confirmation I was still writing, sorry about the wait.  
**


	10. Animals

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

Silvanus yawns and begins making his way back to the disciples' quarters, ready to retire for the night.

Just as he opens the door; a bright white light opens on the ground before the fires of hell burst forth from the opening portal. Arms with rotted flesh desperately reach out and try to grasp at the edges of the portal, trying to pull themselves free. A man clad in a feathery dark violet sash rises out of the portal, seemingly unaffected by the hellfire.

"No! Bad minions! Get back in your realm!" he commands, kicking the grasping hands back into the portal before he crosses his arms across his body, closing the portal.

"Welcome Xecil; I see that your minions are still alive and well," Silvanus addresses, closing the door and turning to greet him.

Xecil sighs, "Hi; I don't suppose you could make a path here could you? I was sitting down there for hours trying to figure out how the hell I was going to get up here… the portal thing was a long shot-I wish luck upon Rhys on getting up here, and Aloysius, well, he's a crazy bastard."

As soon as Xecil finished the last syllable; a series of feral screams puncture the air, each one sounding closer. The air suddenly goes quiet for a moment before an incredibly muscular man jumps up onto the pathway.

A dagger that he is wielding in his left hand has a hilt ending in a skull, which has three nails sticking out of the top of the head. The blade ends in a pyramidal section; the point being perfect for stabbing. Blood in a few different colors drips from the point.

He looks at the two men, his lime green glowing eyes contrasting Xecil's eyes' cyan glow. The man's breathing is heavy and laborious, almost like he was just in a battle.

He lets out a feral scream before finally calming down a bit.

"How'd you get up here Aloysius?" Xecil questions.

"I summoned monsters and used them to murder my way up here!" Aloysius yells in response.

"Calm down… why didn't you just summon one of your flying creatures to take you up here?" Xecil presses.

"That would have involved less killing!" Aloysius declares, refusing to quiet down his voice.

"Of course it would…" Xecil trails off, annoyed by Aloysius's treatment of his summons.

While Aloysius wears the bare minimum, Xecil is fully clothed, not an inch of skin is showing. However, the tight leather that is Xecil's base layer reveals that he is quite well-built.

Xecil wears a wizard's cowl that matches his sash in color and texture. The hood covers his forehead and comes around the side of his face just slightly. It has a bent back point on the scalp covering, and the cape goes down to his mid-back; the ends appear like thinly spread feathers.

A steel mask covers his face eyes down, leaving only his cyan-glowing eyes, which take the shape of parallelograms, peering out from underneath the hood. The mask is layered at three points, the first right below his eyes has the shortest protrusion; the second extends out directly beneath the first. The final layer covers beneath his nose and makes Xecil's chin appear long. Three sets of white strands of hair dangle off the jawline on both sides of the mask.

The steel of the mask covers his throat, and meets the black long-sleeved leather undershirt. Over his chest he wears a steel chest-plate that goes just below his pectorals. Xecil wears large shoulder plates made of steel as well; the right has a large hill near his neck that slopes downward on his shoulder. Silver is inlaid in patterns on the chest plate, mask, and shoulder pads, the right being more ornate than the left.

Four leather belts line his abdomen; the last being partially covered by dark gray ribbon that wraps around his pelvis several times. Thick leather cords tie a miniature bull skull over the ribbon.

Leather straps fasten metal gauntlets onto his forearms. The metal covering the back of his arm up till the elbow has an extra metal piece welded on in the shape of a triangular prism; the edge is sharpened. The gauntlets only cover the middle of the forearm on the opposite side and have fingers, but they only cover the back of his hand and not the palm.

The same tight black leather covers his legs, and the armor covering his lower legs follows the same covering pattern of his gauntlets.

The stout man across from Xecil barely scrapes five foot five, and has a much more brutish appearance. His muscles appear veiny and almost inhumanly large.  
Aloysius's stone mask, unlike Xecil's, is merged with his face, allowing him to freely move it as if it were his own face. The mask covers his entire face, even going behind his ears a little ways. The mouth has large canines, with the right bending and extending outward like a tusk. A lime green glow shines out of tiny eye holes in the mask. Its mouth is even with the rounded nose, before sloping back and upwards. Swirl carvings and rectangles dot the front of the mask.

A mane of spiky, snow white hair juts out from the back of the mask, extending behind him about five inches.

Aloysius's armor consists of: rectangular stones infused into his abs and chest, splintered wooden bracers and greaves, an ornate belt, and cloth straps that wrap around the ball of the heel.

The belt has a green scale wrap bordered by steel teeth. The belt connects to a stone belt buckle, which is circular in design. The buckle has a beaked face in the center, bordered by more steel teeth, on the diagonals of the buckle, steel points stick out. In between the bottom two points; a cloth lap extends out, going just past his knees. The cloth contains bone additions in the middle and at three-quarters, and ends with steel hooks on both sides of the end.

"Say, Xecil; you wouldn't happen to be able to summon _it _yet, would you?" Aloysius inquires, hopping on his feet in excitement.

"_It?_ Oh, no, I refuse to summon _it_ unless I have to," Xecil answers, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Aww, please? Nothing I can summon gives me a challenge anymore…" Aloysius laments, drooping his shoulders in mock sadness.

"No! I'd probably accidentally summon a zombie bunny or something anyways; _it _is a pain in the ass to summon," Xecil mentions offhandedly.

"Fine… then get me some witches to tear apart!" Aloysius excitedly commands.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm Aloysius, but we must wait for the others to arrive, and I have to explain everything to Hex," Silvanus explains, forcing his way into the conversation.

"Oh, who else are we waiting for?" Aloysius queries.

"Stribog, Rhys, Ratan, and Vasyklo," Silvanus replies.

"Four? They need to hurry their asses up; I can already tell I'm going to get bored waiting for them," Aloysius remarks, "where are the others?"

"Methusaleh went over there," Silvanus responds, pointing to the far building, "and Zayden and Hex are probably sleeping in the building behind us."

"Well then, I guess I'll sleep and hope that they arrive by the time I wake up, if not, I'll hunt them down myself," Aloysius states, stretching his arms upward while making his way inside the quarters.

"I'll be heading in to rest as well, Xecil, what about you?" Silvanus inquires.

"I suppose I'll do the same," Xecil answers, following the other two inside.

* * *

A teenage girl runs for her life as two assailants chase after her.

"Come on cutie, if you stop running, Vasyklo and I promise to be gentle," one of the assailants calls out after her.

Swiping the dagger in her right hand behind her, a wave of screaming energy blasts out behind her.

The assailant in the light grey robe swings his poleaxe, dispersing the released energy mid-stride.

"Leave me alone!" the girl screams, as tears begin to flow down her face.

She never thought she would have to say those words.

The girl manages to put some distance between herself and the duo of assailants, just enough to duck out of the way and underneath a log.

Both of the men stop near her hiding place as they feel the girl's soul no longer pulling away.

"Where'd that damn witch go," the black robed assailant wonders out loud, "come out, come out, wherever you are, Vasyklo and I can sense your soul, so there is no use in hiding!"

"Rhys; I request that you refrain from yelling my name out here."

"Quit being such a wuss… I'm sure Marisol thinks it's a sexy name," Rhys, the black-cowled assailant, replies loudly.

Trembling and trying to suppress sobs, the witch regrets meeting these two strange men minutes ago.

* * *

She was just traveling through a small American village in the West; the inhabitants had retired for the night.

When she had made it to the outskirts, she saw _them _approaching. Vasyklo was speeding forward with some sort of blue energy, and Rhys was sprinting his hardest to keep up.

Vasyklo's luxuriant, cyan hair remained unfazed by the wind as it was already slicked backward, with exception to a few strands of hair that normally lay horizontally across his forehead. His eyes matched his hair in color; however the right side of his face was covered with metal.

The metal was dyed violet and took the shape of a tear-drop that had its tail curled upwards toward his hair. The area around the eye had a peach colored sunburst pattern around it.

Vasyklo was wearing a blue violet robe that began to part at the waist, leaving the robe open at his pelvis and legs. Intensely glowing white patterns line the robe ends and the border of the robe. A crimson orb sat in a curled fastening, which held his robe together at the waist. Just above his pectorals sat two more leather fastens to keep the collar popped up to his chin.

The robe covered a similarly colored dress shirt with a deep V-neck, which allowed for him to wear a bright white ascot. The shirt had an extension of cloth also in the shape of a V covering his crotch. He wore twilight black silk pants.

The long sleeves of the robe were covered by silk gauntlets at his forearms. On his legs, he wore metal greaves and sabatons that had the same color as his other garments. These greaves had a diamond shaped knee guard, and they had the glowing patterns on them as well.

All in all, Vasyklo had a very regal appearance about him.

This design was very much the opposite of Rhys, who has a much more thuggish appearance.

Although, it was harder for her to distinguish Rhys's details as he was still sprinting through the trees. That is until he stopped almost instantly the moment he saw her.

He sauntered over to her, a very confident smirk on his face.

He was much taller than her, standing at least six feet tall, while she was a measly five foot five. He was also incredibly well-built, both his pectorals and abs were very defined. Just looking at him made her feel incredibly inadequate.

The sides of his jet black hair were shaved and the top and front of his hair were also cut short. His hair had a gloss to it, as his hair was spiked up in the front with some sort of gel. He had very dreamy silver eyes and three ring piercings in the outer edge of his ears.

He wore a jet necklace that lay upon his bare skin, as he did not wear a shirt outside from his light grey robe, which just went over his shoulders, even though the cape went down all the way to his heels. Black ink patterns lined the robe as well as on the left side of his body. The tattoos popped out from his navy blue dhoti and climbed up his chest and neck, ending just above his eye. Three succeeding silver chains connected the robe together, each longer than the last.

He wore silver gloves that ended the fingers in claws. In his left hand, he carried a three or so foot long pole-axe, which ended in a spear tip and both sides bore a curved blade reminiscent of axes.

His dhoti was held together with horned animal skull buckle. The dhoti completely covered his feet, so his footwear remained a mystery.

Overall he had a quite attractive appearance; she could feel herself become drawn to him.

That is, until he opened his mouth.

"Hey there cutie, my name is Rhys, you have very beautiful blue eyes… and _damn_, that is a very revealing dress," he greeted, making note of her very short, and very low cut white robe.

After that she tried to keep walking and ignore him, any spark she had completely fizzled out.

"Don't be like that babe, tell me your name," Rhys apologetically called out.

"I-it's Marisol," she answered, as she continued to walk away.

The other gentleman glided down, which caused his glowing patterns to fade back to a dull white, and whispered something into Rhys's ear.

She barely overheard them.

"You say she's a what, Vasyklo?" Rhys cried out in response to something Vasyklo told him.

They whispered back and forth to each other some more, until Rhys looked over at her, sporting a huge smirk.

Just as she was about to run; Rhys was already sprinting toward her at an incredible pace. She did not make two steps before she felt Rhys's pole axe sweep her legs from out under her. She turned while falling, causing her to fall on to her back.

Rhys quickly grabbed onto the cloth of her robe in between her breasts and at the hem, pulling her up to her feet. He took his hand away from her breasts momentarily to pull back her hood, completely revealing her shoulder-length neon red hair, before putting his hand back to where it was.

He let out a small chuckle before yelling back to Vasyklo, "you want in on this? Or do I get to have all of the fun?"

Refusing to raise his voice, Vasyklo calmly walked over to them before giving his answer, "tch, I'm glad you have such low standards, but I refuse to even touch this trash."

"If that's the way you want it," Rhys replied.

He took up one of his hands and raked the claws down the bottom of her robe, completely shredding the lower half. Making use of the opportunity, she jumped forward, causing the claws on his other hand to rip through the top part of her robe. To the shock of Rhys, whose hand was left clutching the ripped cloth, she managed to get loose and began sprinting through the woods.

* * *

Rhys continues to search the area, while Vasyklo stands in the clearing.

"Rhys, we are wasting an inexcusable amount of time here, let's just leave the animal to the wilderness, where it belongs," Vasyklo calls out with disdain.

Rhys lets out an angry sigh, "come on, normal women don't really do it for me anymore… witches have an extra little spark that makes the climax so much more amazing."

Vasyklo gags at the thought.

A deep purple portal opens up directly in front of Vasyklo, who does not even react to the sudden magical energies flowing from within.

A woman steps out from the portal, bearing an annoyed expression on her face. Her face does not change at the unexpected individuals standing near the portal.

She has the exact same extremely thin build as Marisol, but she is only a few inches shorter than Rhys. She, like many of the witches, has a very pale complexion. It matches her gray-pink hair, but it makes her dark green eyes stand out.

She wears a dark-grey, long-sleeved robe that has a wide strip of cloth covering the front of her body and crotch, reaching down to her knees. Flaps of the robe cover the sides of her thighs and meet in the back, creating a wide tail that covers her backside all the way down to her ankles. The sleeves fray at the wrists. She wears black loafers over dark grey socks that go just past her knees.

"Have you seen Marisol? I sensed that she was around here," the new arrival asks.

Vasyklo shoots his face, contorted into disgust, away, before clapping his hands together, "Rhys, we have another one."

"Awesome, maybe I can end up with two; surely _Marisol_ wouldn't just let me have my way with her friend here, would she?" Rhys shouts out, making sure the cowering girl can hear him.

Still terrified, Marisol comes up with a plan, _"If I make a break for it and drag Agana into the portal with me, maybe we can get out of this." _

She hops up and begins to sprint toward Agana, but just as she grabs her hand; Rhys jumps up behind the portal, his poleaxe glowing navy blue.

He slices it down the middle, causing the only means to the witches' escape to dissipate.

"Aww, looks like I broke your portal," Rhys callously speaks out, dropping his poleaxe, whose glow began to dull.

"That's fine, I can make another," Agana mentions, the current situation still not making an impact on her.

"I bet it requires some sort of stupidly long ritual or incantation," Vasyklo remarks, chuckling at how witch's magic hasn't progressed any since when he went into hibernation.

"Hmph, what are you going on about, prissy boy?" Agana mockingly asks.

"Agana please, there's something weird about them," Marisol pleads.

Vasyklo puts his arms down to his sides, and channels his magic. His entire body begins to give off a dark blue aura that swirls about him. The patterns on his robe return to their bright white glowing state.

"_Oh Mabaa, what have I done?" _Agana asks herself.

Still trying to put on a cold exterior, "and? T-that's it?"

Vasyklo lets out a chuckle at Agana's faltering voice, "Rhys, please do to them as you wish; I'll restrain the dog that's all bark."

He thrusts out his arm, in response, dark blue chains made up of the wisp-like energy wrap around Agana's throat and her limbs, dragging her face-down to the ground.

Rhys takes off his gloves and latches himself onto Marisol's midsection with one hand, and with the other he begins rubbing his hand along her inner thigh. Playing with her orange stockings, he begins to kiss her neck.

Before he can continue, a clawed spear lands between the two, and a swiftly expanding glacier of ice knocks both of them apart.

The group looks up at the owner- a thin man completely covered from head to toe.

"What are you two doing! This is unhonorable, and I demand you to stop now!" the man shouts at Rhys and Vasyklo.

"Oh, it's just you Stribog; we were just having some fun, cut us some slack," Rhys explains, standing up and dusting off his cape and dhoti.

"I will not just _cut you some slack_; this is inexcusable; I will not permit you to have your way with these defenseless women," Stribog chastises, continually floating down to the ground.

"They are witches Stribog, so as disgusting as it is to even be near them, its ok," Vasyklo clarifies, still chaining Agana to the ground.

Stribog remains silent, melting the ice and retrieving his spear, "Hmph, pathetic creatures they may be, it does not allow you to do as you please to them."

"Let the gray-haired one go, Vasyklo," Stribog commands.

Vasyklo's chains dissipate, and Agana quickly stands up, before walking over to Marisol and helping her up.

"Do not take this as a sign of friendship witches, when I see you the next time; I will decorate my ice stalagmites with your corpses," Stribog callously mentions to Marisol and Agana.

"Come, Rhys and Vasyklo; I'll overlook this behavior because they are witches, this time," Stribog directs, motioning for the two to follow him.

"Hey Stribog, mind giving me a hand?" Rhys calls out, as Vasyklo and Stribog begin to float away.

The cyan mist floating from behind his head grows in intensity, and a circular patch of ice appears on the ground. Rhys steps up on it, and it allows him to levitate along with the other two.

Once the trio is out of sight, Marisol breaks down, while her companion returns to her cold demeanor.

"W-why w-were they t-treating us l-like animals?" Marisol asks between sobs.

Agana puts her arms around her, "come on; let's go back to the castle before Mabaa realizes you aren't there."

"B-but-" She stutters out.

"No buts, we need to get you some new clothing, and report this to Mabaa, we're planning on destroying the DWMA… these guys could throw a wrench into our plans," Agana interjects.

"I-it doesn't disturb you to have been treated like an animal?" Marisol questions.

"They were disgusting men, why would I care what they think of me?" Agana replies.

"I-I see," Marisol weakly says aloud.

"_If it does not bother her, I'm not going to let it bother me either," _Marisol decides, wiping away her tears.

"That's better, now, let's get going," Agana declares.

Agana lets go of Marisol and bends over, wiggling her butt in the form of hiragana; she lets out an angry sigh as she does so.

"_Why isn't there a less embarrassing way to make these?" _Agana grumbles to herself.

The portal opens, and the two witches step through.

Once there, Marisol thanks Agana for showing up.

"Why are you thanking me?" Agana wonders, starting to walk towards the witch's castle.

"Because you were worried about me and came looking," Marisol replies.

"Don't get the wrong id-" she begins, but as she sees Marisol's mood drop she gives in, "fine, yes I was worried about you."

Marisol gives a happy squeal and wraps her arms around Agana, giving her a big hug.

"Just don't get used to it," Agana mentions, a slight smirk appearing on her face.

* * *

**The rough draft title was Rhys is a Terrible person, but I felt it didn't capture the main theme of the chapter**

**So, we got to see how exactly how bad the Old Ones are in terms of their treatment towards witches. What'd you think?  
**


	11. Awakening

**Finally done with the magical introductions. **

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

"What'd ya need Parisa?" Seraphina asks, sporting her ever present smirk. She dusts off her dull orange corset, which is over a red bodysuit that has short sleeves and goes to her mid-thigh, and cracks her neck.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my magic," Parisa meekly requests, Seraphina was always a little imposing, even if she is only seventeen.

"I don't know if I'm the right one to be asking about that…" she mentions, scratching the back of her fiery red hair, which is cut relatively short, but the back is long enough for a small ponytail.

"Oh, well, I guess I'm off to Tanith then, thanks anyways, Ms. Ignacia," Parisa utters, leaving the room.

"Sorry I wasn't much help, if you ever need to learn how to fight physically, I'm your witch!" Seraphina calls out to Parisa.

She knows she'll be able to find Tanith easier; she has a strange obsession with making tonics and potions, and so, she will most likely be in the only room with a cauldron.

Parisa makes her way to the far back area of the castle, following the horrible smell. She finds the source soon enough, so as to not startle Tanith; she gently opens the door.

The smell is far more pungent in the room itself, and so Parisa takes ahold of her cape and places it over her nose and mouth.

Tanith is busy turning the pages of an old book laid out on a nearby table and stirring a disgusting cocktail in a cauldron. She looks up from her book to see Parisa standing in the doorway.

They almost could be sisters, even though they dress very differently from each other. While Parisa wears a dark blue long-sleeved tunic and pants combination, Tanith wears a much more traditional rust colored robe and pointy hat. Parisa wears both a cape and pointy hat too (the hat being orange), but she lets her shoulder length, black hair free.

Tanith doesn't like to mess with her hair and keeps the back of hers in braided twin pigtails. One more difference is Tanith lets her hair frame her face and leaves her bangs messy on her forehead. Parisa keeps hers pinned up and tucked behind her ears.

Tanith lets the liquid come to rest and stops turning the pages of her book to greet her visitor.

"Ms. Miliana, could you assist me with my magic?" Parisa asks, of all of the witches; she feels the closest to Tanith.

Tanith puts her hands on her hips and gives Parisa a stern look, "how many times do I have to tell you to quit being so formal with me-just call me Tanith."

"I'm sorry, Tanith," Parisa replies.

Tanith shakes her head, annoyed by Parisa's apology, "Anyways, yes I can help you with your magic; I'll have to come back here to check on my brew every now and again, though."

Parisa is so excited she lets go of her cape, and takes in a mouthful of the putrid air, causing her to gag. Tanith, however, remains undisturbed by the air.

"I'll wait for you outside," Parisa states hurriedly, fleeing the room and shutting the door behind her.

Tanith shrugs her shoulders and follows in behind.

* * *

The next morning, the most physically mutated and second eldest member of the Old Ones arrives at the castle. He retains a vague human form, but his skin has become a light grey and his nose has fused down into his face, leaving only the bridge. Scars line his chest and cheeks from the countless battles he fought in against the witches.

His hair has been replaced by dark violet crystal plates in varying sizes, and he has socketed a gem into his forehead, which acts as a third eye. On his upper body, the only covering is on his left arm, which is completely covered by a menagerie of metal and leather. This arm wields his staff, whose only decoration is the gem plates in the head of the staff.

He does not wish to disturb the likely-to-be sleeping members of the group, so he sits down cross-legged and holds his staff out in front of him. He begins focusing his magic, causing the plates in the head of the staff to glow.

Now, he can meditate.

Meanwhile, Rhys and company have come into sight of the floating castle. The entire journey was made in silence, despite Rhys's attempts to start conversations.

"Finally, we have arrived," Stribog declares, "now we can begin our revenge."

"You're pretty intent on killing them aren't ya, Stribog?" Rhys asks, scratching the back of his head and yawning.

In an instant, Stribog has snatched up Rhys by his silver chains, stopping the trio from moving.

"What's your problem?" Rhys questions with a bit of irritation.

"They killed my family… they killed all of our families! How dare you act so casual about it!" Stribog shouts angrily.

Rhys grins, "you forget ol' barkskin took me in 'cause my family was already dead."

"Still, they slaughtered our people!"

"Our people? We wer-are just a bunch of random men who can do magic, there never was a _race_ of us."

"And? They still killed a specific group of people… I mean look at us! We may have not been related by Genetics, but we are related by our magic."

"I'd never thought I'd say this, but Stribog has a point, Rhys," Vasyklo interjects.

"Whatever, I'm to mellow to get riled up over this I guess; I just do what ol' barkskin tells me to do."

"Look at me! The witches did this to me!" Stribog screams.

He refers to the fact he is just a soul inhabiting a suit of armor. Pieces of his soul are housed in gems located in pieces of his armor, which has a white and cyan theme. The only remarkable piece of his armor is the helmet, which houses six cyan glowing eyes stacked on top of each other.

"So? The armor amplifies your magic, and you don't have to worry about any physical needs…" Rhys pauses, thinking for a moment, "actually that is a kind of a problem, I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't enjoy women."

"It's like arguing with a damn brick wall; I'm done," Stribog announces, setting Rhys back down onto his platform.

As they get closer, they notice the purple glow that is coming from the gray-skinned man.

"Did we make it here early, or is it just us and Ratan?" Rhys wonders.

Vasyklo puts his hand onto his eyepiece and charges it with a bit of his magic; he then scans the grounds, "no, we are-oh dear… the last ones to arrive."

Just as he finishes his sentence: Ratan stops meditating, Methusaleh appears in a puff of green smoke, and the door to the quarters burst open, revealing Zayden, with the others in tow behind him.

"Good, much sooner than I expected," Silvanus states as the others begin to form a circle.

"Let's get to the killing!" Aloysius shouts out, already impatient.

"Slow down Aloysius, there is much planning to be done before we can kill anything," Silvanus points out in a calming manner.

"Aww, fine, what do we need to do?" Aloysius moans, pouting.

"First I need to remind everyone WHY exactly we are fighting against the witches," Silvanus declares, "in story form."

In unison all of the Old Ones except Hex groan.

* * *

"Ugh, it feels like I got placed in a juicer," Ledo groans.

Stein grins, "might as well have been, Tiny squeezed yeah pretty good."

The entire fight with Tiny rushes through Ledo's mind, "how is Amy?"

"She's doing fine-hang on…" He rolls in his chair out of Ledo's sight, but he still hears him, "Amy, your partner has awoken, and he wants to see you."

Flustered, Amy slowly moves into Ledo's peripheral vision, hiding most of her body behind the privacy curtain.

He grins, before giving her a thumb up, "don't be nervous, it's just me, and I'm doing fine!"

She finally quits hiding and fully comes into view, revealing a sling on her shoulder to fix her collarbone.

Ledo starts to say something but Amy blurts out, "I'm so sorry! If I had been a better weapon we could have eas-"

"Amy stop, we kicked that evil human's ass! It's ok," Ledo asserts, trying to calm her down.

"B-but," she stammers out.

"No buts! We did fine for our first fight and I look forward to fighting with you again," he optimistically shouts, and holds out his hand.

Amy hesitantly holds out her healthy hand and takes his hand, and they shake hands, even if Ledo is doing all of the shaking.

In the bed next door, Mayu slowly begins to open her eyes, much to the relief of her brothers.

She looks up to see the faces of Makoto and Katashi, who have dark rings under their eyes from lack of sleep.

"Mayu!" Makoto yells with glee.

"You're awake!" Katashi follows.

Her chest is a bit sore, and she can feel bandages around it.

"_They've been staying up just to make sure I will be fine…"_ Mayu thinks.

She scowls, shocking her brothers, "what have I told you about coddling me!"

"S-sorry Mayu; you were injured, and we were worried," Makoto defends.

"You could be worried and sleep like normal people!" Mayu chastises.

"What do you me-" Katashi begins, but the brothers look up at each other and realize how tired they look.

Mayu lets out an angry sigh, and ruffles her brothers' hair, "but it's nice to know you care."

Stein pops his head around the curtain, "has Mayu finally awoken?"

"Yes, Dr. Stein," Mayu answers.

"Great, you lost a lot of blood before getting here; I was a little worried," Stein admits, rolling completely into view.

"How long was I unconscious?" Mayu questions.

"About a day, these two refused to leave the room while I stitched you up," Stein states with a bit of exasperation.

Mayu throws them another dirty look.

"What did Alice and Anstice end up doing?" Mayu wonders, ending her aggressive stare.

"Well, they left a couple of days ago," Stein explains.

"On a mission like ours? That is far too dangerous of a mission for them to do," Mayu howls, lurching forward.

Dr. Stein puts his hands up in front of him defensively and leans back, "don't worry, it's just an investigative mission, and Jared and Ophion are with them."

"Oh, well, they need a lot more experience before they can even think about fighting one of those things," Mayu states matter-of-factly.

"I know, that's why there shouldn't be any fighting on this mission," Dr. Stein assures.

"_Shouldn't be?_ Those things could easily kill them if they meet any!" Mayu yells, attempting to jump out of the bed, but Katashi and Makoto restrain her.

Having drawn her ire again, Stein decides to leave.

* * *

_**Two days ago **_

Ophion and Anstice sit across from each other in the room that Stein had placed their meisters.

Alice had returned to a state of unconsciousness shortly after arriving into the room.

"So, Anstice, what do you think about Alice?" Ophion requests, trying to start a conversation with her.

She bites her lip, trying to ignore him.

"_Interesting, lemme see if she does it again," _Ophion notes to himself, intrigued.

He waits until she stops biting her lip to begin talking again.

"_Anstice_, don't give me the cold shoulder; it hurts my feelings," Ophion mock whines.

She repeats her actions from before.

"_So, it's a way to keep herself quiet, hiding angry comments, perhaps… I'm not going to let that bitch ignore me though." _

"You did a very good job with Alice today," Ophion compliments.

Once again, she bites her lip, _"he's not going to shut up, is he?" _

"Thanks," she coldly replies.

"No, no, no, that's all wrong, what you're supposed to do is return the compliment, geez… don't you know anything about socializing?"

An image of her mother, in tears, screaming at her pops into Anstice's head; she scrunches up her face and blocks it out.

Ophion lets out a small smirk, _"Hmm, talking about socializing seems to have had some sort of reaction, let's play with that." _

"A-Anstice?" Alice weakly calls out.

Anstice stands up and walks over to Alice's side.

"_Damn," _Ophion thinks.

"Anstice, what happened?" Alice questions.

"You and Jared knocked each other out, and now you're here," Anstice plainly states.

Ophion stands up and walks over to Alice; he takes his fedora off and bows like a gentleman, causing Alice to blush a little, "here being the resting rooms next to the nurse's office."

"_What a pompous ass," _Anstice complains.

Alice sits up, noticing that Jared was still out cold.

"Is he ok?" Alice wonders.

"Who? Him?" Ophion asks, moving over to Jared before slapping his chest, "he's fine."

The slap jolts Jared awake; the force of the slap knocking the wind out of him, causing him to wheeze and cough.

"Ophion! You have to be more careful!" Alice chastises loudly.

Ophion does one of his flamboyant shrugs and smiles at her, sending her heart aflutter.

"Are you ok, Jared?" Alice asks.

Letting out one final cough and regaining his breath, he replies, "yeah, thank you, Alice."

"Well, the whole gang's awake, do you wish to go get Dr. Stein, or do you want me to?" Ophion inquiries to Anstice.

Without thinking, Anstice blurts out "I'll go!" and she quickly leaves the room.

The news she receives from Stein doesn't make her happy, not one bit.

She and Stein quickly return to the room.

"To ease you into missions; I'm sending you on an investigative mission-just go there, observe, then return and report," Stein explains.

"With them?" Anstice wonders, slightly failing at hiding her annoyance.

"Yup, you're going as a duo pair again, just in case something happens," Stein comforts.

"What is our destination, Doctor?" Ophion inquires.

"Wyoming."

"Well, I guess we better be off then," Ophion announces, pulling Jared to his feet.

However, a loud grumbling comes from both of their stomachs.

"It seems that it would be in your best interest to stop somewhere and get something to eat," Stein suggests, handing Anstice a fifty dollar bill.

"Money?" Anstice utters, a bit in shock.

"It's an investigative mission, so there is no chance of soul collection, which means the reward is monetary," Stein clarifies.

"Be on your way then, and good luck to you!" Stein wishes, speedily rolling out of the room.

* * *

**Anstice is going to have to deal with Ophion the entire trip, and Alice is going to be put in a quite uncomfortable position.  
**


	12. Origins

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

**I just really wanted to say thank you to both Hex and Emerald Fire for the reviews; it really got me into gear to start writing again. **

**I really, really appreciate it!**

* * *

The Old Ones sit down in a circle around Silvanus, many of them have heard the story before, but a select few, namely Ratan, Silvanus, and Stribog, had lived it.

"In the beginning, well not really THE beginning, but the introduction of magic unto this world. About a millennium and a half ago; the normal humans began to become unruly, starting wars and fighting each other and whatnot. So, mother Earth had to come up with a soulution," he chuckles at his pun,

"and so, she tore up her HUGE soul and made 7 beings, known as the Original 7. These 7 were all males, which may not seem important now, but it comes into play later, and these 7 were given the powers of the Earth. The original magic, deemed natural magic, was used to lord over the normal humans and give them leaders. These 7 were given castles, way in the clouds, to give them peace from the normal souls around them. We are in one now. This set-up worked for a century or so, but the 7 began to get lonely, and the normal humans still did not fear death. Eventually, the normal humans began to get unruly again… then mother Earth split off a part of her soul again, and made Death, whose job was to collect souls from those that lead malicious lives. At the same time, mother Earth bestowed the 7 with the ability to craft magical instruments."

"Around this time; the 7 began developing new magics; one retained and mastered natural, but the other 6 broke off into: Elemental, Ritualistic, Summoning, Incantation, Illusionary, and Arithmetic magic. The 7 soon found out that the instruments, being staves, rods, words… all sorts of them, would amplify the strength of normal humans and give them the ability to use magic. The 7 took disciples, and brought them to their castle; afraid of the effects on women; the 7 continued to only take males. However, these men were forced to take an oath of celibacy, and the effects of the instruments on the stability of their souls did not become apparent until centuries later. Once again, with the magic; the 7 and their disciples were able to retain peace. However; the primal urges of the 7 began to take over, and so they began to leave their castles to take wives. Once the wives gave birth, the 7 found that every birth was still, except for the Invocative. He found that by having the pregnant women invoke magic words; the children would be born alive."

"The other 6 soon followed suit, using their brother Invocative's form of magic to produce the same results. The children had the combined soul of the father and the mother, having an always present ability to use magic, and thus the girls became the first witches and the boys, wizards. The men, in the image of their fathers, could use magic without the use of the invocation, but the women, taking after their human mothers, were restrained to only the Invocative school of magic. As magical instruments from the other 6 would be repelled, and to unlock their magical potential; they had to use invocations. Not all witches were made this way, henceforth known as diluted witches, since the 7 also discovered a way to infuse their raw magic potential into the bodies of normal humans."

"The very first created this way is still alive today, and is both the last pure witch and is known as the witch queen, Mabaa," he stops, reminiscing about a few fond memories about that name.

Seconds turn to minutes, creating a very awkward silence.

"Uh, Silvanus?" Hex speaks out… he doesn't receive an answer.

"Silvanus!" Stribog yells, finally getting his attention.

"Sorry about that, just remembering the days before things went downhill," Silvanus states sadly.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, pure witches… a few other notable pure witches who went into hibernation at the start of the magic purge were the Gorgon sisters: Arachne, Medusa, and Shaula. These pure witches were very close to matching the 7 in power. Death was still meandering about, ignoring the affairs of the 7 and doing his job as reaper of souls. For the last time, peace was upheld and the ratio to normal humans to magical beings was around one to one. Around a millennium ago; the effects of magic on normal human souls finally became apparent; the original disciples began to go mad from the magic. The diluted witches also had a thirst for destruction. Over time; the witches destructive nature became harder and harder to control as their numbers swelled. It came to a boiling point one fateful night… when an entire army of witches headed by Mabaa destroyed the Ritualistic castle; along with the creator of Ritual magic himself."

"The other 6 called for genocide of the witches, at the loss of their brother, but being separated and the aforementioned mad disciples prevented them from organizing appropriately. Now, don't get me wrong; the remaining 6 slaughtered the witches in droves with their advanced magic. We here are the individuals who were able to hide, knowing that we were losing the war. No worries either; we all are the birthed beings, so our souls are built for magic and magical instruments. The 6 were eventually killed, but as a last ditch effort the Illusionary creator used a powerful spell to hide his castle. He also came up with this plan, to hide us away from the marauding witches and force us to hibernate until the power of the witches began to dwindle."

"He hid himself away as well, for a time. Death soon had to take over in place of the 7 to curb the witches' destructive behavior. Around 800 years ago; the first Gorgon sister, Arachne, awoke, and began work on Demon weapons. Along with her, the Illusionary creator came out from hiding, taking the moniker Eibon. Using the blueprints for magical instruments, Arachne began work on instruments that Witches' could wield to amplify their power; she took a diluted witch soul, a human soul, and infused them into a weapon. Thus, the first Demon weapon was born. What she did not know was that she had just designed the instruments that would become the bane of her people. While the original Demon Weapon was built with the Witch's soul, newly born Demon Weapons do not have the Witches' souls. So, to complete their powers; the Demon Weapons have to swallow the soul of a Witch. With these new creations, Death founded the Death Weapon Meister Academy. This school is for the refinement and enhancement of Demon weapons. This is the basis for the dwindling of their numbers, as Death has them hunt down Witches. The school also houses another group of beings, called meisters. These meisters are individuals who still retain a spark of magic from descendants long ago, allowing them to wield the Demon Weapons."

"Thus, our goal is simple, to avenge the death of our long dead brothers, Hex" Silvanus states coldly.

Suddenly, all of the events in Hex's life rush through his mind at once, causing him to cry out it surprise.

"What is it Hex?" Silvanus asks concernedly.

"I remember everything now; your story brought back so many memories…" Hex declares, still a bit shocked.

"Good, that was the point of me telling it, along with the new information that arose concerning our allies in the coming war," Silvanus explains.

"No allies! I want to murder them all by myself!" Aloysius shouts angrily.

"The witches still retain an advantage over us, as long as Mabaa is alive, so we are going to have to gain the assistance of Death and his students if we are to win," Silvanus enlightens.

Collecting his thoughts and remembering the wise words of his adopted Witch grandmother, Hex asks a couple of questions, "how do we know that the Witches are still destructive?"

"As I said, I have been observing the world, and just recently, two witches have tried driving the world to complete madness with the revival of a Kishin."

"Couldn't they just be the extremists?" Hex rebuts.

"Even now, Mabaa is planning the destruction of Death City and all those that dwell within, and to the rest of you; a Kishin is a being that has eaten far too many normal human souls and has had their soul tainted, in turn."

"I see, and the other witches agree?"

"Yes, the general consenus among the Witches is in agreement."

"Fine," Hex grumbles, _"I'll find some time to talk to them myself." _

* * *

"Mabaa, we have some important news," Agana declares, entering Mabaa's quarters with Marisol.

"Good lord, why is she in her undergarments?" Mabaa whines, noting Marisol's shredded robe.

"That's what we're here to tell you about; we met these men who could use magic!" Agana announces.

"Was it that cursed immortal werewolf?" Mabaa disdainfully requests.

"No, there were two, and they could use magic without any words," Agana describes.

"No…" Mabaa bemoans, _"There can't be any left… we killed ALL of them." _

"Ladies, make yourselves decent and gather all of the Witches, I need to make an announcement," Mabaa commands with a worried tone.

"Yes, Mabaa," Agana answers, dragging Marisol behind her.

Shortly after, Mabaa hears a knock on her door.

"C-come in," Mabaa shakily instructs, _"This is terrible news indeed, but I need to be strong for my witches."_

She sighs with relief when it is her daughter entering the room.

"Mummy, why are you so on edge?" Jewel wonders.

She angrily sighs at her address, trying to avoid suspicion, "I've told you to call me either Mabaa or mother, never Mummy… and there is nothing wrong."

She waits to see if Jewel will buy it, and the girl stares blankly at her, turning her head slightly.

Jewel smiles brightly, "alright Mummy."

"Be a dear and help those two gather the other witches," Mabaa commands with a bit of irritation.

"Ok Mummy, see you in a hop," Jewel complies, happily skipping out of the room.

"_That girl…" _

The first two witches she comes upon are Neoma and Luna, who are currently staring each other down as they play a game referred to as Chess.

"It's your move, Neoma," Luna calls out playfully, a slight smirk on her face.

"I know! Hush!" Neoma angrily speaks back.

A bead of sweat drips down her forehead, _"is she just toying with me?" _She looks up nervously to see Luna smirking at her.

"_She is! That means she's in control… I don't like it," _

"_What can I do… Oh!" _

She moves a piece across the board, putting Luna in Check. She becomes visibly more relieved, now that she has put Luna on the defensive.

Luna stares at the board in disbelief, softly muttering "no."

She looks up to see Neoma crossing her arms across her chest and giving her a smug look, irritating her further.

She scans the board before she decides to make a move.

"It's your move, _Luna_," Neoma mockingly repeats; a grin wide on her face.

Luna's only response is an irritated "hmph," before moving her king out of the way.

Jewel watches them, entranced by their moves and reactions.

Luna captures a piece with her king, leaving Neoma with only a couple of pieces, matching Luna.

Neoma scans the board…

And realizes there is no way either of them can win.

Before she can point this out, she decides to address the Bunny in the room.

"Do you need something, Jewel?" Neoma questions.

Jewel snaps out of her daze and responds, "oh yeah… Um…"

She puts her finger on her chin, trying to remember what exactly she was sent here to do.

"Well?" Luna asks impatiently.

Jewel frowns, "I forgot…"

"What a ditz…" Neoma mumbles, turning back to the game.

Jewel's locket flashes, and her color scheme inverts.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Jewel shouts, walking over to the table. With a lightning quick movement, she smacks the board off the table, sending the pieces all over. Neither of the witches flinch at this course of action, instead, Neoma stands up to confront her.

"I said you're a ditz, and I'm sick and tired of you always prancing around here… or should I say hopping," Neoma coldly remarks.

Jewel sneers at her before chanting, Neoma soon follows with her own.

"Jagged, Jumpy, Angry, Bun-"

"Herak, Ejika… Lek El-"

Before they can finish, a burst of red appears from out of the corner of their eyes and tackles Jewel to the ground. At the same time, a puff of black smoke takes form and gags Neoma with her hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Serphina yells at Jewel, who she has pinned to the ground.

The two hindered witches glare at their respective holder and refuse to speak.

"Young ones, why must your souls be so filled with hate?" Zilla inquires calmly, taking her hand out of Neoma's mouth.

She quickly smiles, "sorry, being cooped up like this makes us all a little stir crazy."

However, Zilla can see the true nature of her soul; it is a soul much like Luna's, even if Neoma tries to hide it.

Jewel's body flashes underneath Seraphina, causing her to let her out of the pin in shock.

Jewel quickly stands up and dusts herself off and bows.

"Aww, dang it… I'm sorry everyone, I can't control myself when I transform," Jewel explains, pouting and disappointed in herself.

"_It's not like I want this thing on me…" _she thinks, pawing at her locket.

"It is quite alright, young one," Zilla comforts, trying to cheer her up.

"I remember now, I was supposed to tell you to-" Jewel starts, quickly cheering herself up.

"To get your lazy asses into the meeting hall," a stoic voice that comes from the room's doorway cuts in.

"Agana, you don't have to be so mean…" Marisol whines, peeking her head out from behind her unfeeling ward.

"Whatever," Agana grunts, turning to head to the meeting room.  
From behind, the other witches see that Marisol is clinging tightly to the back of Agana's robe.

The other witches stand in silence before Seraphina claps her hands together, causing Zilla to jump from the sudden noise, "you heard Agana, let's get going."

Seraphina leads the way, the other witches following in tow.

The hit the smell like a wall.

"Ew, what's that stench?" Jewel complains.

Then, in unison, all of the witches state glumly, "Tanith…"

Trooping along with her nose covered, Seraphina opens the door leading to the cauldron room to see Tanith nonchalantly stirring a concoction.

"Hey," Seraphina calls out, her voice picking up a nasal tone, "Mabaa wants us to meet in the meeting room."

Tanith stops stirring and begins to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Seraphina wonders, her voice still nasally.

By now, Tanith has gone to full out laughing,

"You're voi… You're vo-" Tanith tries to clarify, but she can't stop laughing.

"My what?" Seraphina asks, confused.

Tanith collects herself long enough to shout out, "You're voice sounds so funny when its nasally!"

She returns to fits of laughter.

"If you weren't standing so close to that putrid cauldron; I'd knock you on your ass," Seraphina threatens.

Her threat only makes Tanith laugh harder.

A small witch appears from the store room, "what's going on, Tanith?"

Her laughter finally subsides, "nothing Parisa… come on, Mabaa wants to see all of us."

Seraphina pulls her head out from the door and waits for them outside.

She notes that Jewel has disappeared, she probably just wandered off.

"I wonder if Agana really forgot about Tanith, or if she just didn't want to deal with the smell…" Seraphina poses to the other witches.

"Probably the latter, knowing that ice cold bitch," Luna points out.

"Hey, she puts up with Marisol being all clingy, doesn't she?" Seraphina questions.

"Agana treats Marisol like a tick that she hasn't noticed," Luna sarcastically remarks.

Tanith and Parisa finally poke through the door, "how sweet of all of you, waiting on me to join you!" Tanith compliments, ending her sentence with a flourish.

"This was, in fact, a mistake, because now you're going to stink up the place by walking around," Neoma states coldly.

Tanith puffs out her cheeks and frowns, "aww, why are you guys always so mean to me?"

All of the witches, save for Zilla and Parisa, leave the area.

While she was just joking earlier, Tanith's shoulders droop and her mood drops.

"Don't be sad Tanith, those other witches are just meanies," Parisa comforts, wrapping an arm around her.

Tanith sniffs, holding in tears so that she can look strong for Parisa.

This isn't the first time this has happened.

She stands up straight and plasters a smile on her face, despite the sadness gnawing away at her from inside.

"Come on Parisa, I'll race you!" Tanith challenges, sprinting off.

Parisa soon gives chase, leaving Zilla alone with her thoughts.

"_Tanith is going to explode one of these days, and I fear the day that she does." _

With that thought, she sighs and begins walking towards the meeting room.

She is the last to arrive; the other witches had already dispersed into their own little areas, except for the two pairs: Parisa and Tanith, and Agana and Marisol.

"It seems that you all have arrived, good," Mabaa announces.

"I brought you all here to tell you a story, my version will be far more abridged then what a former friend of mine would give, but it will contain the most important information. Essentially, an unknown amount of sorcerers have awoken, and they intend to kill us all," Mabaa morbidly declares.

Murmurs and gasps echo off the walls of the meeting room.

"Why mother?" Jewel blurts out.

"Let's just say, the sorcerers treated witches like trash, like we were cavemen who just discovered fire… as time went on, they went mad from their magical instruments, needless to say, our treatment didn't get any better and so we rebelled and killed them all…"

"At least, I thought we did…"


	13. Lunch

"So where do you guys want to go for lunch?" Ophion asks, turning his head behind him so that the other three, who are walking behind him, can hear him.

"I don't particularly care," Jared states.

"I'm not that hungry, so wherever is fine with me," Alice answers.

Anstice remains silent, although she is also hungry.

"Well, is the Deathé ok? They have some nice tea there," Ophion suggests.

"Fine with me," Jared utters, shrugging.

Alice nods in agreement, Ophion doesn't bother to wait for Anstice's response due to having the majority.

A short walk takes them to the Deathé, a small restaurant on the outskirts of town.

Ophion walks in with a smile, "table for four please, preferably a booth."

"Right this way."

The hostess leads the four to a velvet covered booth in the corner of the restaurant; the window next to the booth shows the vast desert surrounding Death City. She places four menus on the table and bows, before leaving to return to her stand.

"Your waiter will be with you soon," she announces as she walks off.

Jared and Ophion sit together, while Alice and Anstice do the same; Jared is across from Alice, and Ophion from Anstice.

Everyone, except for Ophion, opens their menus and scans the items.

"So, what'll everyone be having?" Ophion wonders.

"The Turkey Sandwich and this tea I've been hearing about sounds nice," Jared affirms, placing his menu down.

"I'll just have some tea," Alice decides.

…

"And you Anstice?" Ophion directs, since she didn't answer on her turn.

"The tea, and I guess I'll try their Crepes here," Anstice chooses.

"A sweet tooth eh?" Ophion jokes, but he just receives a bitten on lip.

A young man in a black and white waiter's uniform approaches their table.

"Hey Gerome, looks like you're stuck with me again," Ophion teases, smiling at the waiter.

"The usual, Ophion?" the waiter asks, grinning back at Ophion.

"Yup, and," he directs his thumb at Jared, "he'll take a tea and a Turkey sandwich."

Jared mouth shoots open as Gerome gives Jared a strange look; Jared puts up a finger to object, but realizes Ophion got it right anyways.

Ophion turns to Jared, "it's not polite to stare, you know," he places his palm on the bottom of Jared's chin and closes his mouth. All the while, Ophion gives him a devilish grin, and Jared glares back.

"I'll have a Tea and a Crepe, please," Anstice requests.

"I'll just have a tea," Alice follows.

"Oh no you don't," Ophion interjects, pointing a finger at her, "get this little lady a sandwich as well,"

She starts to object, but something about Ophion's eyes freezes her.

"Alright, will that be all?" Gerome asks.

"I think so," Ophion states, waiting on any objections.

Nobody says anything, so Gerome walks away and puts their order in.

"You didn't have to do that; I'm not that hungry," Alice reminds.

"You haven't eaten for a while, and I don't think we will be for a while, so it's best to get something now," Ophion explains.

Alice gives up, but anxiety gnaws at her mind at the thought of eating around other people.

Jared notices the anxiety on her face, "don't worry Alice, this will be an easy mission."

"Yeah, I think it will be easy too," Alice replies.

The anxiety remains painted all over her face, causing Jared to being to worry.

"_She seems so anxious… if it isn't the mission; I wonder what is causing her to appear like this…" _Jared wonders, _"she also seems to be solely focused on me… oh Death, did Ophion draw something on my face while I was out?"_

Jared rubs his face to see if any ink bleeds off, but that isn't the case.

Alice picks up on his self-conscious actions, as well as the kind intentions behind his comment.

She smiles at him, "don't worry, there's nothing on your face."

"_That still doesn't answer why you seem so anxious though," _Jared thinks, _"I want to ask, but I'm afraid I'll over step my boundaries… we aren't friends, yet."_

"_I wonder what those two are having a staring contest about," _Ophion wonders.

"Hey you love birds, quit staring at each other, our food is here," Ophion announces.

Alice waits for Jared's response before reacting… his face turns red and he quickly looks down.

He takes a quick glance up to see her smiling at him, causing him to shoot his eyes straight down again.

"_Well acquiring that information was a lot easier than I thought, and now I have my bait; Jared may think he's smart by avoiding my manipulations, but I am already a few steps ahead." _

Gerome places their food out in front of them; Ophion's is a cup of coffee and boiled eggs.

"Wait, you recommend the tea, but you get coffee?" Jared accusingly questions, snapping out of his infatuated immobilization.

"I've had both… I come here quite often," Ophion defends.

Anstice is the first to begin eating; she takes one bite before quickly putting her fork down and taking a sip of her tea.

Ophion tilts his head in confusion, "what's the matter?"

"It isn't made right," Anstice clarifies.

"That's unfortunate, I'm sorry about that," Jared states, taking a half of his sandwich in his hand.

"Why are you sorry?" she bluntly comes back.

"I don't know, it's just a habit I picked up from my Dad I guess, sorry about that," Jared explains.

"_It's annoying, It's not like you could do anything about this," _Anstice grumbles, biting her lip.

Ophion has stopped paying attention and has begun downing his eggs one at a time by tilting his head back and swallowing them whole.

Meanwhile, Alice stares down at her food like its poisoned.

"_Oh, was she nervous about eating here?" _Jared realizes.

"Hey Ophion, you sure about this place?" Jared asks.

It's not like this place is filthy or anything, in fact, the place looks almost sterile.

Ophion shoves another egg into his mouth before quickly swallowing it whole.

"Yeah, I come here all the time, like I said, and I see other students in here frequently," Ophion answers.

Jared looks back at Alice, who seems to have zoned out on her sandwich.

Anstice glares at Ophion, biting her lip, trying to figure out how is able to eat eggs by swallowing them whole.

He notices, "I was raised by my immortal parents, who happened to be half snake monster half human, that's why I eat eggs like this."

She bites on her lip harder at the realization that Ophion has just read her like a book. She wipes her mouth off, spotting her napkin with blood.

A foot the left, Jared is still nibbling at his sandwich, trying to figure out why Alice seems to be so mortified over her food.

"_Could it be the food, itself? Now that I think about it, she is extremely thin, maybe she's anorexic?" _Jared contemplates, he remembers his friends jokingly calling him the same a few years ago, but they have stopped doing that.

Jared pulls a pencil out of his pocket and begins to write something on his napkin. He looks at Anstice and Ophion, who are preoccupied with their drinks. He casually slips the napkin into Alice's field of view.

"_If you really don't want to eat, we can get a bag for it, at least drink your tea, it's going to get cold." _

She looks up at him and smiles, but anticipating her gaze; he looks down in embarrassment.

She cheerfully begins drinking her tea, while Jared continues to avoid eye contact and finishing off his sandwich.

The other two have finished their food and drink as well, except Anstice's Crepe remains untouched outside of the initial bite.

"Here is your check," Gerome declares, popping out of nowhere.

"Uh, could we get a plastic bag for her sandwich, please?" Jared requests.

"Yes, I'll be back with it in a minute."

Ophion grins at Alice, "saving it for later? Oh well."

Alice shoots a glance at Jared, "I guess so."

"Did you actually not want it? I-I'm sorry, I should of asked first," Jared stammers out apologetically.

Alice giggles slightly, "it's alright, I did."

"_Don't get too comfortable with her, Jared,"_ Ophion warns in his head, his smile widens slightly imagining Jared's face at the climax of his plan.

Gerome brings back the check and plastic bag, handing it to Alice.

"Thank you and I hope you have a lovely shift," Alice expresses.

"I appreciate it, miss," Gerome responds.

Anstice places the fifty dollar bill on the check and focuses her attention on her cup, trying to avoid further interactions with Ophion.

Gerome quickly takes the money and gives them their change back just as fast; they leave a tip on the table and begin heading towards their destination.

About halfway there, Alice finally begins nibbling on her sandwich, but only after she manages to fall behind without getting noticed by the others.

"_As much as I would like to get some information on them; I really don't feel like it," _Ophion thinks, sighing to himself in laziness.

* * *

The moon had risen and was high in the sky by the time the group had arrived at their destination.

"_So,_ what exactly are we supposed to be observing?" Ophion asks the others.

They reach what seems to be a clearing in the middle of the forest; Ophion, being the trailblazer, clumsily steps past the last row of trees, but he is jerked back from someone behind him.

"Hey! What are yo-"

"Look over there, do you see that?" Anstice points out, she hated to even touch him, but if he got noticed, so would she. What she is pointing to is a teenage girl sitting on a dilapidated dining room chair, with her knees pulled to her chest; she has a paintbrush in one hand. A stream of some sort of black liquid flows from the tip of the brush and produces two monstrous apparitions.

"W-what is that?" Jared stammers out, trying to hush his voice.

"How should I know?" Ophion retorts.

"Look at the girl… She looks so sad," Alice comments, "I feel sorry for her."

"_She looks pretty lifeless to me…" _Anstice states to herself.

Atop the small mound, the two creatures deliberate to one another.

"Brother…" Abraxas quietly calls out.

"I sense them too; it would be a shame to just use such exquisite souls as canvases right away," Cornelius replies.

Abraxas looks down at the girl, "Myra, how about you treat them to a taste of your life?"

Myra's eyes don't even flicker, and she does not respond.

"Fine, I suppose we'll just have to slowly and painfully torture them in front of you… Do you think you can handle their pleas for mercy?" Abraxas goads, swirling about her.

Her eyes flicker to life for the first time in a few years, usually they were too busy bickering about artistic merit to try to pull her out of her comatose shell.

"Please, no."

"What was that? Did you actually say something?" Abraxas scornfully inquires.

"You're going to have to speak up if you want anybody to hear you," Cornelius maliciously toys.

Myra's eyes have already begun to well up with tears, "whoever you are, run! Please!"

The four go rigid at the girl's sudden outburst; they remain stunned a moment too long, allowing both Cornelius and Abraxas to cover the distance and begin swirling about them.

Both pairs try to make contact with their partner, but the duo of monsters lurch in between the pairs, stopping the meisters from wielding their weapons.

"Whoa there, no need to get hasty; we don't want to damage the canvases," Cornelius coolly defuses.

"Canvases?" Jared wonders aloud.

"Your souls are the canvases, fool!" Cornelius insults loudly.

"And what exquisite canvases you make," Abraxas adds.

Jared takes a step back in an attempt to put distance between him and the monster.

Near instantly, Abraxas dashes forward, slicing Jared diagonally with a flick of his head.

"Don't think about running, next time; it'll be your throat," Abraxas warns.

The cut is shallow, probably intentionally, but it was deep enough to begin to cause Jared's undershirt to begin to discolor from the blood.

"_This isn't good," _Anstice comments to herself, the surprise attack had caught all of them off-guard. Despite the surprise, she retained her cool demeanor. _"I wonder if I transformed my arm… no, that won't work." _

While Anstice continues to try to think of a way to get into contact with Alice, Ophion uses the opening that Abraxas left open by attacking Jared to begin snaking his transformed arm underground. He keeps a neutral face to avoid giving away his plan.

Alice remains frozen in place, _"I'm not sure what to do against enemies like this." _

Abraxas finally turns back to Ophion, "so, what's your story, immortal?"

Just then, Ophion shoots up his clamp end from the ground, biting down onto Jared's hand, causing him to cry out in pain. Ophion flashes white and transforms into his weapon form. Cornelius and Abraxas rush the duo, attempting to incapacitate Jared before they had to really fight.

"Alice! Now's our chance!" Anstice shouts, sprinting forward to meet Alice's hand.

Ophion forced his chains taut to catch Abraxas's razor scales, at the same time Jared had to roll back to avoid Cornelius's horns. After the initial skirmish, the monsters decide to size their opponents' up, allowing Alice to both get near Jared and prepare herself.

* * *

Back at Death Weapon Meister Academy, Aillard and Kotone stand behind Lord Death, watching the events unfold on his mirror.

"Oh my, I was not expecting the monsters to be able to act freely," Lord Death comments, surprised by the turn of events.

"They can do it! I know they can!" Kotone yells optimistically, causing a groan from her partner.

"I assume you want us to go bail them out," Aillard glumly speaks aloud.

"As perceptive as ever Alastor, please hurry," Death requests.

The duo quickly dash out of the room, Kotone's kimono and orange hair flowing behind her.

* * *

**Sorry this took so long, been busy preparing for school. Hope you enjoy!**


	14. Convergance

**Sorry its been so long since I've updated, but I've been busy with school.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

With a blindingly fast swipe, Cornelius smashes Jared's legs out from underneath him, sending him straight to the ground. Abraxas slinks forward with a similar speed and grips onto Alice leg and jerks it back, sending her sprawling. The monsters follow with a firm grasp on their legs, slowly dragging the meisters toward Myra. The meisters struggle and kick, trying to get free from the black masses. The weapons transform their bodies and try to slash away at the creatures, but their black blood absorbs the attacks and rehardens.

"_Damn, Jared's such a pain in the ass…" _Ophion complains to himself.

"_We can't damage them…" _Anstice realizes, biting down on her lip.

Once they reach Myra, the Abraxas and Cornelius stand the meisters back up, spreading their black blood to restrain the two.

"Myra, we have a job for you," Abraxas teases.

"What do you plan on doing?" Jared inquires, trying to steel his nerves.

Abraxas chuckles, "you'll soon find out, however, I will tell you we plan on doing a little extra to your souls, besides just corrupting them."

"I-I'm not going to do it…" Myra weakly blurts out.

"As always, our souls are connected and we can make you do what we want, so, once again, you are powerless," Cornelius retorts.

Myra's eyes widen with fear, and quickly her head drops in defeat.

Her reaction causes both of the monsters to laugh loudly, before jerking Jared and Alice's body towards her, forcing them to touch the Demon Paintbrush. The color drains from their faces and their pupils dilate, putting them into a trancelike state. The creatures let them loose, causing two solid thuds as their bodies' crash into the ground.

"What have you done to them?" Ophion cries out just as they hit the ground.

"We sent them to a little hell we like to call Myra's soul," Abraxas explains, holding back giggles.

"Now, you two be dears and hold still!" Cornelius instructs.

Just then, black blood surges from the tip of the paintbrush and wraps around Ophion and Anstice's feet; Anstice tries to roll away but the blood quickly redirects and immobilizes her as well.

"Stay! Good dogs!" Abraxas shouts mockingly.

The monsters slowly rescind and dissipate back inside of the tip of the paintbrush, leaving the two weapons immobilized and confused.

* * *

"The DWMA has made its move on the Demon Sword! We must make preparations to respond, for now, Seraphina, Zilla, I am sending you to hinder their progress," Mabaa shouts.

"Yes m'am!" Seraphina replies.

"As you wish, milady," Zilla answers.

"The rest of you, steel your nerves and prepare your magic!" Mabaa commands.

* * *

"Men! Here's our chance, the witches have been sent into a panic over some sort of Demon Weapon," Silvanus explains.

"FINALLY, WE GET TO KILL THEM!" Aloysius shouts excitedly.

"Ha-hah! We finally get to have a good fight!" Zayden declares loudly.

"Heh, I'll make em' scream," Methusaleh announces.

"Excellent," Stribog mumbles.

"M'kay," Rhys grunts.

"The darkness shall spread… I hope," Xecil states with a bit of worry.

"They are no match for me!" Ratan says, retaining the same enthusiasm as his comrades.

Vasyklo sighs and mumbles under his breath, "ignorant brutes…"

Hex does not partake in the preemptive celebration, instead, he stands dumbfounded as to why these men would be so willing to commit genocide without so much as a second thought.

"To deny giving the witches another advantage I am sending two of you to intercept them at the Demon Swords' location… Aloysius, Xecil, I am sending you two," Silvanus decides.

As soon as he was let off of Silvanus's leash, Aloysius throws down his dagger into the path, cracking the stone in a large radius. He begins making a sign with his hands and focuses his magic on the dagger. A black mist begins to rise from the skull of the dagger, slowly taking the form of a wriggling cylinder.

The black mist surges back into the dagger and dissipates into the ground in the blink of an eye. To the shock of the younger sorcerers, the ground begins to rumble and a huge jet-black centipede bursts forth from the ground. Only the head and the start of its trunk writhe out of the ground, and it is already ten feet out.

The antennae, mandibles, and legs are a blood red, each adding to the grotesque sight of the gigantic arthropod.

Aloysius pulls his dagger from the ground and jumps on the centipede's head.

The creature drags the rest of its body out of the ground to make clear the creatures fatal potential-each of the legs are tipped with metal.

He kicks his heels on the sides of the creature and calls out, "Scolopendrid, away!" the centipede lurches forward and jumps off of the side of the floating landmass.

"Well, it's going to be hard to top that…" Xecil complains.

He puts his arms across his body and focuses his magic on his hands before thrusting them apart; opening a portal, which soon begins to spout flames and horrific screaming. Xecil calmly walks into it, closing it behind him.

"What're we suppo-" Ratan starts, but a portal opens up above the gathered sorcerers.

Xecil plummets out of the portal, which closes after he is all the way through. The sorcerers share an awkward stare, as they try to figure out why Xecil had returned.

"Whoops, guess I got my portals messed up again," Xecil declares, before opening another and trying again.

"I worry about that boy sometimes," Silvanus states aloud.

"Anyways, what are we supposed to do?" Ratan asks.

Before Silvanus can answer, a loud yell pierces the air, and it seems to be getting louder. Silvanus looks up before dropping his head and shaking it in disbelief. Shortly, the purple-clad sorcerer smacks into the pavement with a loud thud.

"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Silvanus asks, dejected.

Xecil quickly stands up and dusts himself off, "well, you'd think the damned souls of the enemies I've defeated would be more willing to help, but Nooooo! it's always "it burns," "please save me," "I don't want to do your bidding," "bunch of crybabies if you ask me… anyways, I'll get it this time."

Xecil opens up another portal and disappears inside, this time for good.

Silvanus breaks the silence of the group with a sigh of relief, "I suggest you begin showing Hex the ropes of crystal magic again, as for the rest of you, you should begin preparing for our assault."

"Yes, sir!" the sorcerers, who begin to disperse, all shout in response.

* * *

The two Demon Sword monsters aimlessly float about in a black void, if they weren't connected via their souls; they'd have no idea where the other was.

"So brother, what should we do with these two?" Abraxas questions, "they have such exquisite souls."

"We shall turn their partners into glorious works of art first, and then play it by bristle from there," Cornelius states.

"I want to paint _her_," Abraxas declares, forming Anstice out of the void, "her soul is filled with such deep anger and sadness that I fear corrupting her soul and releasing all of the pent up energy may very well be the end of us."

"Imagine the masterpiece that will be created though!" Cornelius rebuts.

"Indeed, brother, we might be destroyed, but our masterpiece shall leave a legacy that the world will never forget!" Abraxas shouts.

"As for now, we must enjoy the souls that have been so graciously donated to our art," Cornelius concedes.

* * *

"Well now, we're in quite the pickle aren't we?" Ophion inquires calmly.

"_How can he be so nonchalant at a time like this?" _Anstice asks herself, biting down on her lip.

"Oh, _come on_, even when you're in a panic you refuse to speak to me?" Ophion wonders.

"I am not panicking," Anstice stoically replies.

"_There_ we go, now was that so hard, chompy?" Ophion teases.

"_What _did you just call me?" Anstice questions.

"No need to get mad, chompy," Ophion mocks.

She bites down on her lip, causing Ophion to grin widely at her. It clicks in her mind instantly and her face begins to turn red from anger. Anstice begins shaking with anger; however, despite the loss of her cork, she manages to keep somewhat calm.

"_I don't know if I can take much more of this…" _Anstice thinks dejectedly.

Ophion transforms his arm into his chain's head and throws it to a nearby tree. The fangs embed into the tree trunk. He holds out his hand toward Anstice, who stares at him in disbelief briefly, but her gaze quickly turns into a death stare.

"If you want to get out of here, you probably should grab hold of my hand," Ophion suggests, a slight grin on his face.

"_He knows what he's doing, and this is… this is…" _Anstice habitually bites down on her lip hard enough to cause blood to begin to drip from her mouth.

"Fine…" Anstice grunts, grabbing his hand, _"only because this seems to be the best way for me to get out of here."_

Ophion tries to retract his chain as forcefully as he can muster, pulling his upper body forward, but otherwise not doing anything useful. He creates slack and jerks the chain and tries retracting the chain again, only to fail once more. Ophion unclamps the tree and retracts it back to original length, turning it back to his normal arm.

"_I just accepted help from this… this… snake and he doesn't even prove to be of any use to me, what a waste," _Anstice complains, jerking her hand out of Ophion's grasp. Anstice has already calmed down and given up her anger.

"Oh well, hopefully someone help us," Ophion concedes, shrugging his shoulders.

Ophion squats down and prepares to wait it out, while Anstice tries to formulate a way to break free. Neither gets much time however, as a dark red tie slowly begins to make its way toward the two. Just like earlier, the monsters jolt out from the paintbrush as Mr. Aillard reaches the treeline.

"Who might you be?" Abraxas asks, curious.

Mr. Aillard reaches out behind him and pulls out a bright orange futozao, being Kotone's weapon form, and holds it in both of his hands across his body.

"Another practitioner of the arts?" Cornelius blurts out.

"Hmm, I wonder why Mr. Aillard is here," Ophion speaks out.

"_Took them long enough…" _Anstice complains to herself.

Mr. Aillard reveals a thin bachi and begins to quietly strum on Kotone… one stroke, two strokes, three… Nothing appears to be happening.

He jerks back his arm and strums her much more forcefully; a bright green beam shoots out from the epicenter of the vibration, before splitting and hitting the black blood restraining Ophion and Anstice. The blood begins to squirm before liquefying, allowing the two weapons to escape. The two creatures hiss in anger and Myra grimaces.

Ophion and Anstice quickly take to Mr. Aillard's side, prepared to attempt to fend off any attacks.

"Where are your meisters?" Mr. Aillard asks, turning his head to Anstice, while continuing to freeze Abraxas and Cornelius with the green beams.

"Over there," Anstice answers, pointing to the two bodies next to Myra's chair.

Mr. Aillard grunts, before focusing his soul wavelength.

"_Ready Kotone?" _

"_Always, sweetie." _

Mr. Aillard stops playing for a brief moment, but soon Kotone begins to play again. Mr. Aillard slowly begins to move toward the fallen meisters, keeping his concentration on using his soul wavelength to strum Kotone remotely.

He manages to get halfway to the fallen meisters before he eats a fist to the side of the face. The force of the punch sends him clear into the other end of the clearing. A moment passes before Kotone stops making sound, creating an odd silence.

Kotone reverts back to her human form and grabs onto both Ophion and Anstice's hand, pulling them forward and reuniting with Alastor.

The silence is broken with the crack of knuckles, "did you see that Zilla? I knocked that meister on his ass!"

Zilla clears her throat.

"Oh, right…" Seraphina mumbles.

"First the Demon Sword, and now witches too? What is going on here?" Mr. Aillard asks aloud, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

"We are taking this Demon Sword and there's nothing you can do about it!" Seraphina declares, moving toward Myra.

"Seraphina wait!" Zilla shouts in alarm, but the warning comes too late.

Cornelius charges forward, hitting Seraphina with the broad part of his skull, knocking the wind out of her and blasting her back to Zilla.

"We are not going with anyone! We shall continue making our masterpieces, here, and that is the end of it," Cornelius barks.

Seraphina coughs and sputters, trying to regain her breath.

Her breath quickly returns, "feisty eh? I love a good fight."

Seraphina, recklessly charges back at the creatures, but the ground begins to rumble, knocking her off balance and causing her to trip. The ground opens up and a huge centipede bursts forth, knocking Seraphina into the air.

Near Zilla, a circular portal opens up and flames burst forth, and Xecil steps out.

"Hey, I got it right this time!" Xecil excitedly proclaims.

"You must be the one of the Old One's Mabaa told us about," Zilla states.

"And you must be a witch," Xecil decides.

"Indeed I am, but do not interfere child, otherwise I will have to use force," Zilla warns.

Xecil chuckles, "a witch trying to kill a summoner? I'd love to see the day that happens."

"That day may very well be today," Zilla announces, preparing to fight him.

Meanwhile, Aloysius unsummons Scolopendrid.

"So you are an Old One, huh?" Seraphina asks, her curiousity piqued.

"A witch! Yes!" Aloysius shouts, leaping at Seraphina, knife in hand.

Seraphina grabs ahold of Aloysius's arms, halting his leap. The two begin to try to overpower each other, creating a deadlock between the two.

"Honey?" Kotone squeaks out.

"Yes, it does seem like we are in quite the multi-sided battle," Mr. Aillard answers, reading her mind.

The witches and sorcerers have occupied themselves with fighting each other, leaving Alastor and the Demon Sword monsters unoccupied.

"It seems like we need to prevent them from stealing our canvasses and trying to free Myra," Cornelius suggests.

"Indeed brother."

The fighting going on outside is offset by the odd tranquility that is going on within Myra's soul.

* * *

Jared and Alice wake up to the afternoon sun. They both stand up and try to acclimate to their surroundings, the chipped paint on the side of the farmhouse is no more, now, a pristine coating gleams the light of the sun off its walls. Flowers and a grab-bag of garden crops grow in a nearby field.

Jared looks down and notices something extremely different, while Alice continues to take in the beautiful sight laid out before them.

His fingers are short and pudgy, and he realizes the ground is much closer than he remembers. He looks over at Alice and it hits him.

They've been transformed back into children physically.

"Alice, what is going on?" Jared requests.

She looks at him and shrugs, "I have no idea."

"I think we are 7 or something," Jared points out.

"It does seem like that, doesn't it?" Alice replies, smiling.

From out of a nearby clearing a young girl with dark black hair and a white dress comes running towards the two.

"Hi! My name is Myra; do you want to play with me?"


	15. Serenity

**I do not own Soul Eater world and it belongs to its respective owner. **

* * *

"My, my, it seems that there is quite the party going on near the Demon Sword," Death comments.

He and Dr. Stein sit in Death's room, watching the ensuing battle from Death's magic mirror.

"It seems that we may have a new faction to oppose the witches," Stein notes, he begins to turn his screw.

"Yes, the sorcerers are certainly against the witches, but where their allegiance lies with the DWMA is still a mystery," Death agrees.

"Sorcerers, huh, do they have the same magic capabilities as the witches?" Stein inquires, still twisting his screw.

"Indeed, if not more so… what makes them truly dangerous is that they can use spells without an incantation," Death enlightens.

"I thought that magic users had to use a mantra to unlock the magic potential in their souls?"

"Sorcerers bypass this with the use of magical instruments; if you look at the one in the tribal mask, he uses that dagger as a conduit," Death explains.

"What about the one in violet?" Stein asks.

"How very observant of you, he does not have a conduit; instead, he makes use of magical imbuement; it allows for more potent bursts of magic, but that method has a limit, and he must rest after using too much magic," Death clarifies.

"You seem to know quite a lot about these men Lord Death," Stein mentions inquisitively.

"Oh yes, I believed them to be completely wiped out, however, this is quite the interesting turn-of-events," Death replies nonchalantly.

"Any possibility of capturing one and letting me dissect them?" Dr. Stein wonders, excited at the thought of experimenting on one of these sorcerers.

"I'm afraid not, they are quite hard to kill and the sway of magic is much stronger on these individuals," Death answers.

"What do you mean?"

"Their equipment is not only for amplifying their magic, but to stabilize their souls, without imbuement or instruments; sorcerers' souls are at a high risk to burst," Death explains.

"Very interesting beings, Death, if you'll excuse me, I'll go check on the injured students," Dr. Stein remarks; he pushes backwards on the heels of his shoes and rolls out of Death's room.

* * *

Stein loudly rolls into the recovery room, startling Ledo out of his own world.

"Hello students, how are you all feeling?" Stein inquires.

Amy, who has been visiting Ledo daily since the job, breaks her observant stare on Ledo to respond, "Uh… fine Dr. Stein."

She rotates her shoulder to show him that she can now use it.

"I feel ready to jump out of this bed and kick some ass!" Ledo excitedly roars.

"Don't push yourself too hard; I know you're ready to get back to fighting, but Tiny did extensive damage to your rib cage; it's going to be a while until you are back to one hundred percent," Stein warns.

"Fine, I don't really mind sitting around here for another week or two," Ledo comments, _"at least it gets me out of doing homework." _

Stein rolls past Amy and Ledo to greet the other pair. He turns his head for a moment, before speaking up.

"Where's Makoto?"

"He said he couldn't be cooped up inside anymore and went outside for some fresh air," Mayu answers.

"I see, how are your cuts doing since I removed the stiches?" he requests.

"There's some scarring, but otherwise I'm fine," Mayu replies cheerfully.

"Good, well then, it seems that you are both ready for the most part; Katashi, go get Makoto," Stein commands.

"Yes Dr. Stein," Katashi complies, getting up quickly and leaving the room; he passes by five students dressed in white uniforms.

"Ready for what?" Mayu asks eagerly.

"Black Star, Kid, you can come in now," Stein announces.

Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, and Patty, dressed in full Spartoi uniform, make their way through the doorway.

"_Spartoi students? Why are they visiting us?" _Amy wonders.

Black Star and Tsubaki stop at the foot of Ledo's bed, and Kid, Patty, and Liz take the same position in front of Mayu.

"You have been chosen to be specially trained by a Spartoi pair that matches your expertise," Stein declares.

Black Star gives both Ledo and Amy a large smile and a thumbs up, "if you work hard, maybe a little bit of my stardom will rub off on you."

"It will be a pleasure working with you," Tsubaki greets, bowing to both Ledo and Amy.

Amy's face begins to take on a dark red color in response.

"D-did I say something wrong?" Tsubaki asks apologetically, leaning in towards Amy slightly.

"Oh no, nothing at all!" Amy replies, being so rattled that she loses control of the volume of her voice. Realizing how loudly she just yelled, she bows, "I'm so, so, sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong, you don't need to apologize," Tsubaki responds soothingly.

Ledo hops out of bed, and shakes hands with Black Star, then Tsubaki; it causes Stein to flinch, worried that Ledo's injuries would be too much for him to move.

"It'll be a pleasure working with you," Ledo mentions, "but don't think I'll just sit by and let you kick more ass than me."

Black Star chuckles, a well of excitement builds within him.

"Hey Stein," Ledo calls out, catching the doctor just before he rolls out of the room.

"Yes Ledo?" he responds inquisitively.

"Why exactly are we meeting them right now? It's like ten a 'clock," Ledo states.

"This way you can get greetings out of the way; you won't be training with them until the other two pairs get back," Dr. Stein explains.

Ledo nods, and then Stein rolls out of the room.

Next door, Makoto and Katashi still have not arrived, leaving Mayu alone with Kid, Liz, and Patti.

"Was the young man I saw running out Makoto or Katashi?" Kid questions, leaning in slightly.

"That was Katashi, he is my lead katana; Makoto is the Wakizashi," Mayu answers; she sits up to face Kid.

"I'm aware," Kid stoically states.

Mayu frowns, _"it's already bad enough I have to work with my brothers… I suppose I can deal with them, but this might be too much." _

Katashi and Makoto burst through the door and make their way to Mayu's side.

They both bow and, in unison, blurt out, "we're sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's quite alright gentlemen; however I ask that you be more punctual next time," Kid declares.

"We will try to be, Mr. Kid," Makoto concedes, bowing along with Katashi.

"Come on Kid, you don't have to be so hard on them," Liz complains.

"For us to work together at optimal ability we must be on the same page," Kid snaps back.

"Whatever…" Liz scowls briefly at Kid, but turns to Mayu and the brothers with a slight smile on her face, "I am Liz, and this is Patti."

"Hewwo!" Patti shouts cheerfully, waving at them.

"It'll be a pleasure working with you," Makoto replies.

"Indeed," Katashi continues.

…

"Won't it, Mayu?" Makoto asks with a chastising tone.

"Yeah," Mayu grumbles.

Kid glances at the clock, "I apologize, but we must be on our way."

"Um, alright?" Mayu objects confusedly.

Unfazed by Mayu's confused statement, Kid and the others leave the room.

"I wonder what that was about," Makoto utters.

"For someone so quick to chastise you guys for being punctual, that was kind of rude," Mayu comments, throwing her feet off of the side of the bed, and then standing up.

Makoto puts his arms out, just in case she were too fall, "don't be so brash Mayu, Stein hasn't given you the ok to move around yet."

Mayu snorts, "Stein gave me the ok while you were out; I am fine."

"Are you sure?" Makoto prods.

Mayu's body begins to tremble with rage; she balls up her fists and her eyes burn with anger.

"I'm so sick of you guys always treating me like a child!" Mayu screams.

"May-" Katashi starts.

"No! I am done!" Mayu continues; she turns her back to them and storms out of the room.

Amy and Ledo give each other an awkward glance as Mayu passes by.

The brothers look at each other in stunned silence; she has been angry at them before, but this was the worst scolding yet.

"Do you think we should go after her?" Makoto asks, breaking the long silence.

"I'd say you should let her cool off," Ledo suggests behind the curtain divider.

"He's probably right, Makoto," Katashi utters.

"But… fine, we can give her some space," Makoto concedes, standing up abruptly.

He begins to walk out but Katashi stops him, "Makoto…"

"I know, I promise I won't go near her," he replies as he leaves the room, leaving Katashi behind.

A blanket of silence falls over the room once again, prompting Katashi to leave the room. Before he makes his way out; he bows to both Amy and Ledo, "I apologize for all of the noise, our family gets a little… excited sometimes."

Ledo chuckles, "it's fine."

Amy face becomes flushed and she avoids eye contact, "you don't need to apologize," she quietly squeaks out.

Having received the responses, Katashi leaves to go make sure Makoto doesn't do anything he'll regret.

After Katashi gets out of earshot, or at least Ledo thinks so, "well that was certainly an ordeal."

Amy jumps from the sudden address, "uh, yeah," she replies; her eyes dart everywhere besides Ledo's face.

"Something wrong with my face?" Ledo asks, rubbing his face with his hands to determine if there is something on it.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry, I just…" she stammers out; her face is beet red at this point.

"You just?" Ledo goads.

"Sorry! Excuse me, but I need to go!" Amy exclaims, running out of the room.

Ledo sits in his bed, confused for a moment, "oh well," he utters aloud to himself, shrugging. He slumps back down into his bed and readies himself to take a nap.

Still flustered from her encounter; she turns a corner quickly and leans against the wall, attempting to recollect herself.

"_Aww, now he probably thinks I'm weird," _Amy thinks to herself, dejected, _"but what if he's just like the others?" _

She contemplates the possibility, pushing herself off the wall and making her way to her home.

* * *

**Sorry about the long period of time between updates, school has been keeping me busy.  
**

**I hope you enjoy**


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